Past Fear, Future Love
by AriesBalorPrincess
Summary: "I love you." Those three words hung between the couple. He was holding his breath waiting to see what she was going to say. Seeing the fear in her eyes wasn't what he had in mind. "Wade, you know that I love you as my best friend but I'm not ready to say those words to you in the context you just said them, I'm sorry for that, but…" she trailed off. AU Story.
1. Chapter 1

**_I have absolutely no idea where this story came from or where I'm going with it, so it will be quite the journey for all of us. This chapter just came out as I sat down to work on a different story. To those of you that happen to read A New Beginning and Rockin' Love I will try to have an update asap for you guys. But until then, I hope you guys can enjoy this one._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own the show or the characters._**

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"I love you." Those three words hung between the couple. He was holding his breath waiting to see what she was going to say. Seeing the fear in her eyes wasn't what he had in mind. Her hand fell from his. He could feel his own anger boiling up inside of him. Saying those three words to her was the only time he told a girlfriend that he loved them, he was never more serious about three little words in his life.

They had been dating for the past six months, been friends since they were babies. Four years they had been without each other, she went off to college in Boston to become the doctor she is now and he had gone off to play college football a few hours from home. They lost contact after a very few long months. Home during breaks and holidays they would hold small conversations but they weren't the friends they had been growing up. Neither one of them was quite sure how they were going to ever get back to being the best of friends, they told each other everything. They had no secrets. It felt like they were never going to go back to that place they once were at. He got injured and there went his chance at making it to the pros, he dropped out of school and moved back home. After she finished up at school she moved back home claiming that small town was where she wanted to be at and that no city held her heart like her charming little hometown. Things between the friends started off awkward but they were determined to put all of that behind them and over the next 3 months they had done just that, friends again. Only something more was between them and they took their friendship to relationship in just a few short days. And for the past six months things had been good for them, they fought like cats and dogs but they made up like rabbits.

"Wade, you know that I love you as my best friend but I'm not ready to say those words to you in the context you just said them, I'm sorry for that, but…" she trailed off, wiping away the moisture that was collecting in the corner of her eyes. She did love him, he was her best friend and she was falling for him but saying those three words to him as her boyfriend, she couldn't do that, she wasn't ready to say those words to him like that.

"That makes no sense to me Zoe," Wade huffed his response to her. "How can you love me as your friend but you refuse to love me as your boyfriend?" He yelled, throwing his hands in the air, before roughly shoving them in his pockets.

"I've loved you as my best friend since we were kids, I missed you like crazy the four years that we were apart, that showed me that I need you in my life and I enjoy being with you Wade in every since, and I want to say those words to you I do, but I'm not going to say them if I don't truly mean them. It wouldn't do either one of us any good," she slowly explained, licking her lips, her eyes locked with his green ones. "I appreciate that you put your heart out there and told me how you feel because that means a lot, Wade and your love is special to me. I just need more time, Wade," Zoe told him, pleading with not only her words but her chocolate eyes as well.

There was something about her words that made his anger slowly vanish from his body, her words touched him. He knew that he would give her all the time in the world to say a simple 'I love you', he just hoped that he wouldn't have to wait that long. Those four years were some of the worst years in his life, there was so many things that he wanted to share with Zoe and he couldn't because he didn't know how to fix what was broken between them then. And now he wasn't going to lose her because she was afraid to say three simple little words that held a helluva punch. He tried not to take that personal, because he heard the stories that floated around town about what she went through with her ex while she was away at school, he knew enough that he needed to be patient with her now even if he felt he couldn't be. "Ya know I mean it. I do love you, so damn much, Zo. I started out loving you as my best friend and I was left with this hole in my chest the size of my heart when we stopped being friends," he paused, to pull her flush against his body, dropping a soft kiss the crown of her head. "It was easy to fall for you in a different way over the last few months. I'd be crazy to let you walk away now, take what time you need, just please don't take forever," he whispered, resting his cheek on the top of her head, his arms winding around her waist to hold her even closer to him.

"I promise that won't happen, Wade," she whispered back a smile resting peacefully on her lips, as she listened to the steady beating of his heart in her ear.

"Get in here you crazy kids," Earl called from the back door, "dinners ready and ya know how your Ma gets," he grumbled with a soft chuckle falling from his lips. "Zo, don't me get started on your Pops." Zoe rolled her eyes, moving from her boyfriend's embrace, lacing her fingers with his.

If it wouldn't have been for her mom making that last minute decision to break up with Ethan and move to Bluebell to be with Harley, she couldn't even fathom how her life would've turned out to be like. Her parents were married before she was born; her mom and Jackie owned a cute little boutique in town and together they had a become Bluebell's best and only realtors in town. Earl and Harley were the best of friends, ever since they were kids. So it was easy to see why Wade and Zoe have been best friends since they were in diapers.

"I saw this cute little house over on Crest Street today," Jackie mused once they were sitting at the table, the food served.

"Ma," Wade groaned, hanging his head. It wasn't that he was embarrassed about it or that he wasn't ready to live with Zoe yet, because the truth of the matter was they had been secretly looking at houses when they would walk around Bluebell. He just didn't want to listen to his parents discuss his future with Zoe; it was unnerving and awkward at best.

"What?" Jackie asked, turning to look at her son. "It's perfect for both of you," she gushed.

"Do ya think that maybe we're not at that stage in our relationship yet?" Wade asked, glancing at Zoe who was sitting next to him. He could see the light hint of a blush on her cheeks as she picked at the chicken on her plate. "Besides Ma, when we're ready to move in together we'll find our perfect house," he stated.

"Your Ma is only trying to help because she loves the both of ya," Earl cut in.

Wade went to speak but Zoe placed her hand on his leg under the table, shutting him up just as quickly. "We know that and thank you for the concern, Jackie, we do appreciate where you're coming from and when we're ready to take that step, we'll check the house out, is it the little yellow one?" Zoe asked, earning a nod from Jackie. "That is a lovely home," she gushed, "but when we're ready and if the house is still on the market, we'll take a look at it," she finished with a bright smile.

"It really is beautiful," Candice stated. "It's the perfect house to turn into the perfect home."

"Thank you Zoe," Jackie flashed Zoe a smile turning to Candice to talk more about the house. Wade slid his hand under Zoe's linking them together. He had always been amazed at how easy she could reel his mom in from her crazy and wacky ideas.

"How was the practice today?" Zoe asked turning to look at her dad. She had today off and tomorrow she had off as while. She had spent her day with Wade and tomorrow she was headed to Fairhope with Lemon and Annabeth to have a little girl time.

"It was good and I don't expect to see you there tomorrow as a Doctor or as a patient either," he chuckled. Zoe smiled looking down at her left arm seeing the wrap around her wrist from where the snake had bitten her. Her and Wade were walking through the woods and she had tripped over a tree root sticking up from the ground, when she landed her hand happened to graze a snake and the snake attacked. She wasn't scared because she knew just what type it was and that there was nothing to worry about as long she went straight to the practice.

"I can't really promise you on that one," she laughed lightly, smiling when she felt Wade run his thumb over her wrist that was bandaged up. She may not be ready to say 'I love you' to Wade but it wasn't going to be long before she was ready. She had to get past her own fear and stop taking that out on Wade when it was someone else's fault altogether.


	2. Chapter 2

_"I hate you Wade Kinsella!" A ten year old Zoe yelled ready to burst out in tears. Wade stood watching his friend with shock on his face. It was just a stupid spider that started this whole mess. She was overreacting about the whole situation._

 _"Gee Zo it was just a tiny harmless spider," he replied, toeing the dirt with his right foot, getting his black dress shoes for church dirty. His mom was going to flip out on him for getting his Sunday best covered in mud and dirt, but he did try to refuse wearing them on a Friday night, they just wouldn't listen to reason._

 _"And what about the mud, huh?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest, the mud drying to her pink dress in the heat, starting to ruin her pretty dress for the dance, her white shoes covered in brown mud._

 _"I didn't think," he shrugged. "We've always done stuff in the mud," he explained. They played in the mud at every chance they could, it was fun, and he really didn't think her falling into the mud was that big of a deal. This whole thing was stupid and unnecessary._

 _"You never think!" She huffed, storming back up the driveway to her house. "You ruined tonight," she sobbed, "and I never want to see you again, Wade Kinsella!"_

 _"It's just a stupid dance, Zo," he huffed in annoyance following behind her._

 _"No it wasn't," she told him sadly, sniffling. "Just go, you've ruined enough as it is," she told him softly._

"I remember that day," Wade laughed, sitting next to Zoe on her couch.

"How'd you get in?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow at him, pausing the homemade movie she was watching. She had been going through old boxes and she found a tape that wasn't marked and she was curious to see what was on the tape, the last thing she was expecting to see or hear were those words from the first fight she had ever been in with Wade. Now that fight seemed so silly, but at the time she was pissed at her friend.

"You can be really dense at times," he chuckled, holding his key up for her to see.

"Oh," she replied suddenly feeling stupid. Ever since the summer before 6th grade they had the others house key. After the dreaded four year hiatus of being friends they once again exchanged house keys, it was an extra comfort and it did make it easier to make amends after a fight. "Did you lock the door behind you?" She questioned, moving so she could lay down with her head resting on his lap.

"Don't I always?" He asked right back a smirk playing his lips as his fingers ran through her soft brown locks.

"No," she responded, making a move to get up. He chuckled, keeping her in place. She sent him a glare; she liked having her door locked. It wasn't that anyone was going to walk right on in, this was Bluebell after all but one could never be so sure and her mother did like to pop in at the most inappropriate times. "I will not have a repeat of how my Mother found out we were a couple. That was embarrassing," she stated, feeling blood rush to her cheeks.

"You don't gotta tell me. It wasn't my ideal way to come out to any of our parents that we were dating and having sex. Do you really think I wanted your Mom to catch us in the middle of the act? Hell no!" He responded, shaking his head and shuttering at the very thought of Candice walking in on them. "That shit wasn't cool, I've learned my lesson after that," he told her dead serious. She giggled, reaching up to run a hand over his cheek softly. "What brought this on?" He asked, nodding to the TV.

"I wanted to see what was on the tape," she replied. "I was so mad at you for days for ruining my first dance, one that our parents weren't going to be around for. It wasn't about the spider or the mud, just that you ruined that night for me."

"Oh I know, I got a lecture from my parents, Jesse included plus your parents and then when you finally started to talk to me again. Lemon and AB tried to lecture me but they didn't know what for so it didn't really work out," he chuckled. "I knew the second you hit the mud that I was dead, I knew you were going to be mad at me just not quite that pissed off," he explained, playing with her hair. "I'm sorry for that night," he told her with sincerity laced in his voice.

"I know," she told him softly, reaching over to turn the TV off. "There were plenty of dances after that," she smiled up at him. "They were even more special then that one and you did go all out for those ones. After I had the time to process things that night, I was over being mad at you. Apparently that dance was just lame, no one wanted to dance," she smiled up at him fondly, remembering all the school dances they had went to together and the ones that they shared a few dances with when they were dating someone.

"That's cause we weren't there babe," he winked down at her, earning him soft giggles. "I'm sorry about my Mom last night. She's just wanted us to be married since like the 5th grade." Zoe sat up, moving so she was sitting on his lap, her hands on his face.

"I know because my parents are the same way. It's fun looking at house's together Wade and I really can't wait to live with you, but we're not there yet, even if I do have half my stuff at your place and vice versa," she sighed. "At least I'm not, because I can't even tell you that I…" she trailed off, looking down at her lap, her hands falling from his face. He hooked a finger under chin lifting her head up, looking deep into her brown eyes.

"It's okay Zoe," he told her, knowing how that sentence was going to go. "I love you and I know once you get over whatever that asshole in New York did to you, that you'll be ready to say those words, ready to live the rest of your life, hopefully with me," he told her his voice dropping as he spoke the last few words.

"Of course it's going to be with you Wade. I also know that you heard the stories that have circled around town about him while I was with him and I have to know something, Wade," she said, chewing her bottom lip debating if she really wanted to ask him about it or just let the whole thing go, she already had a feeling that he done it, they may not have been on speaking terms at the time but she still cared for him and she wanted to believe that he still cared about her.

"You can ask me anything, Zo, I'll be honest with you," he responded, wanting to hear what it was she had to know. He had a feeling that he may not like what it was she had to ask, but he had to know.

"When I ended things with him, he had a broken nose and a black eye, a busted lip, his jaw was swollen and I don't know what else, because that's all I could see and when I got back to town a few days later and I saw you with faded bruises on your face and your knuckles were all messed up," she said, placing soft kisses along his knuckles. "I've put things together and I always thought that it was you that showed up and did that to him, at least I always hoped it was you, so was it you?" She asked in a small voice, her thumb running over his knuckles.

"I heard so much shit about what he was doing to you, I still don't know what it was he did to you, but I do know that he wasn't treating you right and I couldn't stand that even if we were at odds, Zo. You've always held this special place in my heart and I couldn't just sit back and let him get away with it all. I had to do something and words weren't working with him, which I found ironic considering, but yeah it was me that did a number to him, you aren't mad at me are you?" He asked, licking his lips. She shook her head.

"No," she whispered, resting her head against his chest. "I do want to tell you what happened with him, but I'm not ready to talk about it, it's still hard to think about and I know in order to get past it I need to talk about it, but I'm not ready to relive those days just yet," she explained, hoping that he wouldn't push her on this.

"I'm here and I'm not going anywhere Zoe and the second you're ready to tell me what's going on, I'll listen to you. But he did deserve that beat down I gave him right?" He questioned, pulling her closer, kissing the top of her head.

"Big time," she smiled, letting her eyes drift shut. "Are you staying the night, or are you going to head back to your place?"

"That's a hard choice," he chuckled. "Stay here with my very hot girlfriend or head on home to a cold bed and dream that I had my girl by my side. I'm not sure what I should do," he smirked, his fingers ghosting over her inner thigh. She rolled her eyes, gently smacking him on the chest.

"I think you should head home if you're going to be like that," she stated getting up.

"You're one crazy woman if you think that I'm going to head on home," he stated, grabbing her hips and pulling her back into him, he nipped at her neck. She let a soft moan escape.

"You're sure that you locked the front door?" She asked, glancing at the door. He chuckled in her ear, pushing her upstairs. He had learned his lesson the hard way; no way did he want to relive that encounter and the awkwardness that followed suit. She laughed, breaking free of his grip and running up the stairs, Wade right behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

"Have I told you that I hate family night?" Zoe asked her head resting on Wade's chest. They were at his place; both of them had the day off and they had found the perfect way to spend their day.

"No you don't, you love your parents," Wade stated, his fingers strumming along her spine. "You just don't want to leave my bed," he smirked.

"Of course not I'm cozy, warm and it's nice," Zoe told him moving closer to him, "why would I want to move from this spot?" Zoe asked, tilting her head up at him.

"For the record I don't want you to move from your spot either," Wade mumbled, kissing the top of her head. "But I really don't want your parents storming into my house to get you either." Zoe laughed at that, slowly sitting up. "Meatball is gonna be here tonight, so I'll meet you at your house after dinner with your parents."

"Do you need me to let you know when I'm going to be done and on my way home?" Zoe asked, tossing the covers off, swinging her legs to the side of the bed, looking for her clothes.

"Nah, I've got my key if you're not there and I think I'm going to go see Jesse," Wade commented getting out of bed, picking his clothes up off the floor.

"Okay tell him I say hi," Zoe said, pressing a quick kiss to Wade's lips and rushing out of the house, not letting Wade catch her and delay her any longer, she was already running late.

Wade chuckled, pulling his shirt over his head and headed out to find his brother. Stuffing his hands in pants pockets he walked the short distance from his place, the place he shared with Meatball, thinking that it would be a good choice when they moved in with each other a few months after high school. It was fun for a while, until Zoe came back to town and things picked up with her once more, now living with Meatball was kinda horrible. He really did want his own place, but he didn't want to move just to move all over again when he and Zoe were in the right place to live together. He really did want Zoe to open up to him about what she had gone through with her ex in New York but he knew that pushing her to talk about it wasn't going to help either one of them it was only going to push her away and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

"What brings you by?" Jesse asked, sitting on the front steps, wiping the sweat from his forehead, before taking a long drink of his lemonade.

"Didn't think I needed a reason to come see my brother," Wade retorted sitting next to him. "You've almost have it finished huh?" He asked, looking behind him at the house his brother was building from the ground up.

"Should be done next week," Jesse stated. Wade nodded. The house was beautiful. It was the ideal home to have and Wade was extremely jealous of that because he knew that no matter what house he looked at to buy with Zoe in the future, they would never find one as good as the house that Jesse was building, maybe that was what he needed to do, find the perfect place and build a house. It was an idea he'd have to run past Zoe. "Things still good with you and Zoe?" Jesse asked, seeing a look on his brother's face.

"For the most part everything is good, she does say hi," Wade stated, looking down. "Told her I loved her the other day and she couldn't say it back. I want to go find the dick that hurt her so bad to make her second guess herself. She's not the same girl we grew up with Jesse."

"Sometimes that's not a bad thing. We all need to grow up and change and become the people we never thought we would be. Look at you Wade, you thought that you were going to go off and be this world famous football player/ musician, but things changed for you and you wanted something else."

"Yeah because I got injured and I didn't have a choice in the matter," Wade huffed.

"You grew up and your dreams changed, you became a person that people can count on and not some kid causing trouble," Jesse told him, ignoring his brother's comment. "This town thought you'd spend years in jail because they didn't think that you'd grow up but you did and you're better for it," Jesse told him. "I'm not saying that Zoe had changed in all the good ways, but she needs time to deal with what she's dealing with at her own pace and she'll come to you. Out of everyone in this town she trusts you the most." He knew what his brother was saying was the truth, for the most part.

"I doubt that. I know she trusts me or she wouldn't be with me. I've always been there to protect her and the one time she needed me the most I wasn't there," Wade told him angry at himself for not being there. "How can she trust me if I failed her that once?"

"Because you didn't know anything about it, she doesn't blame you for that Wade," Jesse explained. "She's more than likely mad at herself over that. If she didn't trust you, she wouldn't be with you, willing to spend her life with you, Wade."

"She doesn't trust me enough to say I love you!" Wade yelled standing up.

"Ever think that maybe she doesn't trust herself and that it has nothing to do with you?" Jesse asked. Wade looked at his brother, that thought had never crossed his mind. He shrugged and headed off, needing sometime to clear his mind before he talked to Zoe.

"Sweetie I'm worried about you," Candice stated as they sat around the dinner table. Zoe looked at her mom, dropping her fork.

"Why's that?" Zoe questioned, trying to think about what she had done to make her mom worry so much about her. Nothing came to mind.

"Ever since you returned, your not the same," Candice sighed, "it's like you're carrying around this huge weight and I want you to know that you can talk to me about it."

"I know, Mom, but I can't," Zoe told her, pushing things around on her plate. She wanted to tell her mom about what happened, but she didn't want them to see her as weak and pathetic because she couldn't get the nerve to walk away sooner than she had. She was certain that if it wouldn't have been for what she went through, then she was positive that she would still be in New York. As lame as it was, she loved Bluebell but there was something about the city that held her heart too. And under different circumstances she wouldn't have moved back so soon, she doesn't regret moving back, because she really did miss Wade and she's happy to be with him. She knows that Wade would never use her the way Joel had, but there was still that bit of doubt in her mind and it had to do with her and with Wade. She loved him she did, but the second she said those three words out loud everything else between her and Wade were going to change and she didn't want things to go to hell with him like they had let it before. They never tried hard enough and that does play a very small role in why she's holding herself back.

"You need to talk to someone, Sweetie." Zoe nodded, losing her appetite.

"Are we still going shopping tomorrow?" Zoe asked. Candice smiled brightly.

"Of course we are, that is if you're father will let you have the morning off," Candice replied, teasing Harley.

"You can have the morning off if you can handle tomorrow night by yourself," Harley stated a smile on his lips.

"I can do that," Zoe said nodding her head.

The rest of the night had been filled with mindless chatter. Candice asking Zoe if she was okay, she nodded and headed out. She smiled seeing Wade sitting on the steps to her place. She walked past him, frowning when he hadn't moved from his spot to follow her inside. She unlocked the door, placing her things inside the house. She sat next to him, resisting the urge to lean on him. "What's going on?" Zoe asked, quietly.

"Why can't you love me?" He asked just as quiet, his voice not holding any emotions, refusing to look at her.

"Wade," Zoe sighed, trying to take his hand in hers.

"No, just answer the question Zoe, I've been thinking about this since the other night. I really want to hate you for not being able to love me, but I know it's not me, because you're different and I love you and I just want to know why you can't love me," Wade yelled, ripping his hand from her. Zoe nodded, motioning they go inside not wanting the whole town to hear their business.


	4. Chapter 4

"I promised myself that I wasn't going to push you on this but I was talking to Jesse and the longer I waited the more it bothered me. I just want to know why it is so damn hard for you to love me," Wade said sitting at the kitchen table. He had waited until he was calm enough to talk about this like the adults they were.

"Because I'm messed up, I don't want to make you feel like that. That was never my intention," she sighed. Maybe they had rushed into being together. Maybe that was all on her, she thought she was ready to handle things with Wade after everything with Joel. She knew that Wade would never be like that to her. She saw how Wade was in relationships growing up and he was nothing but sweet and caring. The same he treated her when they were friends. That wasn't going to change now, just because of the crap she had gone through.

"Why can't you let me in?" Wade asked softly, reaching for her hand. Zoe let him twine their fingers together. "I don't like being left out, I wanna help you. Please let me in," he begged.

"I don't want you to look at me differently," she whispered, looking down ashamed of herself.

"Hey now baby, that isn't fair," he stated keeping his voice even, moving around the table to kneel in front of her. "I would never do that. Do you not trust me?" He asked his voice trembling on the edge of anger and sorrow. She shook her head, cupping his face with her free hand.

"I trust you, Wade, with my life," she told him on the verge of tears.

"Then what is this entire BS about?" He asked, not able to make any sense of what was going on.

Not saying a word Zoe headed to the living room, pulling Wade behind her. He was right there sitting on the couch. He watched her pace around the living room. He was going to wait for Zoe to say whatever was going through her mind. He needed to sit back and wait for the dam to break the rest of the way. He really thought she was nuts for even thinking he would look at her differently. She was always going to be his best friend, life experiences be damned. Whatever she went through made her stronger for being able to stand here before him ready to hand her heart over.

"I hate how weak and vulnerable I was, how I let someone control me so much, but I thought I loved him. Talking about this is hard enough just please wait until I'm done before you comment."

"Okay," he told her. Just hearing her say she loved some other guy was enough to make his blood boil.

 _She had just finished one of the longest days at school for the past few months. It was her second year at school and even though things with Wade were on the outs she was missing him like crazy. With her mind on Wade she rounded the corner running smack dab into a body. They had caught her before she was able to land on her butt on the floor._

 _"I'm sorry," she told him, her cheeks flush from blushing. "Thanks for saving me," she said looking down._

 _"You can make it up to me by getting a bite to eat," he told her._

 _"Um I don't about that," she told him shaking her head._

 _"I won't bite, I promise. Besides what else do you have planned for a Friday night?" He asked._

 _"Oh okay but I'm allowed to leave at any second," she told him, pushing some of her hair behind her ear._

 _"Deal," he grinned. "Joel Stevens."_

 _"Zoe Wilkes."_

 _Their night had been filled with laughs and Zoe found that she really liked Joel the things they didn't have in common brought them together._

 _She found herself spending a lot of her free time with him. Things had progressed from friends to dating on their own after a few months. She was happy, happier than she had been in a while._

 _It wasn't until she showed up 10 minutes late for a date that he got mad at her. She had even sent him a message saying that she was going to be late because of class._

"I don't get it Zoe. Things seemed good there. Were you using him to forget about me?" Wade asked interrupting Zoe's story. The thought of Zoe using some tool to forget about him angered him further. It wasn't right he wasn't going around using people to forget about her. He had let himself suffer for not doing anything to change the fact that he no longer had her in his life. He blamed Zoe for it too, but he could've tried harder instead of letting her go without so much as a fight.

"No though I must admit that when I was with him I still missed you and thought about you, at first. Whenever I did mention you in conversation because trust me it was a lot at first because whatever we were doing it reminded me of you and I wanted to enjoy those things with you." He let a smile grace his lips for a second before it disappeared. "We'd fight about you and I realized that it wasn't doing me any good to keep bringing you up, so I dropped it and I focused on him but you were always there in the back of my mind, Wade."

"Okay," he said slowly. "But things seemed to be good between the two of you guys, what happened?" He asked, wanting to get the root of the problem.

"Things are always good to start with. It wasn't until a year later that things changed. He became controlling."

"He didn't hit you or anything did he?" Wade asked, ready to fly to New York and beat the guy up.

"Threatened to but he never laid a hand on me. I thought I loved him and he fooled me and he broke me. He used me because he could. The thing is I know he wasn't like that, that it was just the friends he kept, telling him he had to. And I'm just afraid that it's going to happen again," she explained.

"Really nice, Zoe," he scoffed. "You know me. We grew up together. We've seen each other at our worst. And to think you see me as some monster because some idiot was. That's low even for you," he yelled, getting off the couch to pace around the room.

"I know you're not like that, it's on me." She wanted to say those three words because she did love him she was only afraid of the things that came next. The fights and all the bad things because the second she handed her heart over to Wade the easier it was for him to break her.

"I just wanna help you. I want you back," he sighed defeated, seeing the look of pain in her eyes. There was no way that he could just walk out the door and out of her life. No he was going to fight for her this time. To get his Zoe back, because he knew without a doubt that she was still in there buried away deep down.

"You being here is enough, Wade." He held his arms open letting her fall into his embrace.

"I've got ya. Always," he whispered kissing her temple.


	5. Chapter 5

_"Come on, Zoe," Joel goaded, a smirk firmly in place from his spot by the door._

 _"I can't. I have a test that I need to study for, please Joel just go," Zoe begged her eyes trained on the floor._

 _"I can't show up without you. Get dressed in the dress you got yesterday, now," he demanded anger evident in his voice, scaring Zoe._

 _"I can't," she hissed, turning away from hi, taking a shaky breath. Joel grabbed her arm pulling her to him making her stumble._

 _"Let me make myself clear, you_ _ **are**_ _going to put the dress on and_ _ **you**_ _will be on my arm in no less than 15 minutes_ _ **are**_ _we clear?" He asked, squeezing her upper arm, making her wince in pain._

 _"Ow," she hissed._ _"Joel you're hurting me," she sobbed._

"Zoe, baby, wake up," Wade said, gently placing his hand on her stomach, his fingers gently caressing the skin that was exposed. Hearing the fit she was in next to him, woke him from the nice slumber that he was in.

"NO!" She yelled, pushing Wade away.

"Baby, hey it's okay. It's me Wade," he said softly, coaxing her to wake up.

"Wade?" Zoe sniffled.

"Yeah baby," he cooed, softly pulling her into his arms.

She moved closer to Wade, her head resting against his chest. The steady beat of his heart in her ear was enough to relax her mixed in with Wade's hand on her back. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he whispered back, afraid to raise his voice too much. "Are you okay?" He asked dropping a small kiss to the top of her head.

"Yeah," she replied while shaking her head lightly. "Joel, he was forcing me to go to some stupid party and I had to study for a test and he wouldn't take no for an answer and he left a bruise on my arm from squeezing too hard," she explained, tears in her eyes.

"Hey now," he whispered kissing her temple. "You're safe. I've got you," he promised, holding her tighter against himself. "I promise." He wasn't really sure what else he was supposed to say or do. He figured it was the right thing when he heard her breathing even out. He lay awake, his fingers skimming over back. He was finding it hard to go back to sleep. He wanted to keep Zoe safe. He failed once; he wasn't going to let that happen again.

"I love you, Wade Kinsella." Hearing her say that barely audible had him tense up for a brief second. He's wanted to hear her say those exact words for a while now. He wasn't sure how he should even respond to that come morning. But for now he relaxed and a smile spread across his face, as he pulled her even closer so she was practically on top of him.

"I love you too baby," he whispered pressing a lingering kiss to the top of her head, as sleep finally consumed him once more.

"Morning," Zoe greeted, seeing him enter the kitchen.

"Mornin' baby," he replied, kissing her cheek. He smiled sitting down at the table where there was a stack of still warm waffles, bacon and scrambled eggs. "You didn't make these did you?" He asked looking at the still clean kitchen.

"No," she eyed him up. "Mom dropped them off. Dad made more than enough," she told him.

"I do love your family," he told her digging in, a playful smile on his face.

"I would hope so, you do love me," she replied. Wade smiled, reaching for her hand. Zoe easily let her hand slip into his. He knew better than to push her on this whole love thing. She had said it last night whether she remembered it or not, he heard it and after the last few days with her sharing things that Joel had done to her he could see just how hard everything was for her.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Wade asked, watching her closely. Zoe looked down.

"I am sorry about that, I haven't had a nightmare like that since moving back here," she told him softly still looking down at the table. Wade placed a finger under her chin, lifting her head up locking his eyes with hers.

"Hey now baby, you have nothing to be sorry for. You can't control things like that. I'm just happy that I was here for you," he told her softly; bring her hand up to place a gentle kiss the palm of her hand.

"I'm happy you were here too, you make me feel safe," she whispered. In her head she knew that Wade was nothing like Joel, that Wade wouldn't make her do things, that he wouldn't lay a hand on her, unless they were goofing off and then it wouldn't be in a way that hurt her. Joel was the dark and her past and Wade was the light in her life and her future, she just needed to over come that darkness first, because it was there plaguing her, mocking her.

"I do promise that I'm going to keep you safe and protect you Zoe. You should have never gone through any of that with Joel. It was wrong that I got mad at you before. But this whole thing pisses me off," he told her refusing to let her hand go, as her face fell. "I'm not mad with you, I'm mad that Joel ever thought that he could do what he had done to you. I'm mad at myself for ever letting you just walk outta my life. I love you Zoe and I don't want to be anywhere else than right here with you, okay?" He asked Zoe nodded her head; Wade wiped the few tears that had fallen to her cheeks away before she could.

"You do know I meant what I said last night?" Zoe asked referring to the I love you she spoke. Wade smiled, leaning over to softly kiss her.

"I know," he whispered against her lips. "When you feel more comfortable to say those words, I'll be waiting," he told her. Zoe smiled, pulling him back down for a kiss.


	6. Chapter 6

"Uh, Wade, what are you doing?" Zoe asked walking into her bedroom with the bags she had collected over the few hours she had been shopping with her mom and not so surprisingly with Jackie after the first hour. She really wasn't expecting to see Wade shifting through clothes and shoes in the bottom of her closet.

"Lookin' for somethin'," came his muffled reply. Placing the bags on her bed, she turned to look at Wade.

"Why yes I can see that, captain obvious, but what is it you are looking for?" Zoe asked, sitting down.

"An old shirt," he called back tossing a few articles of clothing out of his way.

"That doesn't help me much, Wade," Zoe told him, finding this whole thing amusing. Wade rolled his eyes, moving to the other end of the closet.

"It's just an old shirt. A black band shirt, that's been faded. It wasn't at my parent's place, it's not at my place so the only place left is for it to be here, maybe you've seen it," he remarked with a smirk turning to look at Zoe, seeing what it was his girlfriend was wearing.

"Why must you need it?" Zoe asked grinning at her boyfriend. "I'm surprised you can find anything at your place. I'm afraid I'm going to catch something every time I step into your place. Don't you or Meatball know how to pick up after yourselves?"

"I was gonna help Jesse this afternoon, but on second thought it looks better on you than it ever did on me," he stated, moving to stand in front of Zoe. "Yes we do, but it's just too much of a hassle," he shrugged.

"Trust me in this heat, you'll be wearing very little out there helping him," Zoe told him, placing her hands on his hips. "When do you have to go help him?"

"Whenever," Wade replied, running a hand through her hair. "When do you need to be at work?"

"I've got a few hours to kill," she informed him, pulling him down for a kiss.

It hadn't taken them very long to ditch their clothes and being lost in the sensations they brought out in each other. They laid in each others arm. Zoe's head was perched on his shoulder, her hand drawing random shapes on his chest, one of her legs tossed over his. Wade had a hand behind his head, his other arm wrapped around Zoe, playing with the ends of her hair.

"I take it shopping was fun?" Wade chuckled seeing the shopping bags now on the floor.

"No," she groaned. "Did you know that our Mothers' have our wedding all planned out, have since we were little?" Zoe asked him.

"They do not," Wade replied with an amused chuckle.

"Oh yes, they're just waiting for you to propose and then they can finally set the date. It's going to be either a spring wedding or a winter wedding; they're not sure on that because it all depends. Middle of town square, whole town is invited; you're wearing this darkish green color with your black tux. They are going to let me pick out the dress I want, but the invites, the food, the music and everything else they have picked out, I believe they're going to let us pick our first dance song out," she informed him in the way of a small rant.

"You're being serious right now? We haven't even been dating that long!" Wade replied in horror, closing his eyes. He loved Zoe and maybe one day they would think about getting married, but that wasn't for a while yet. They had their own things to deal with right now.

"They've been planning this since we've been in diapers and could only babble. Maybe sooner than that, I'm not sure. Yes I'm being serious; I spent a good 45 minutes trying to escape the bridal shop."

"Why would you let them drag you into a bridal shop for?" Wade asked holding his laughter back.

"I didn't have a choice, I tried to refuse, but they pulled me in. And if you ask them they will tell you there is no harm in looking," she told him. "Never again," she sighed.

"I get it, we're not there yet and we won't be for a while and ya know what?" Wade asked, moving so he could look at her. "That's okay," he finished, gently pulling her in for a kiss.

"I know that, but wedding talk I find it silly this early in our relationship. I swear our parents are off their rockers or worse. I don't think I can take them pushing us into things we're not ready for and they won't listen to reason either. I'm sick of it." She loved her parents and she loved Wade's parents, but them meddling in her relationship with Wade was way out of control. They couldn't just push them to do whatever it was they wanted. They weren't dolls in this little game of theirs, they were real people who had feelings and people who couldn't be rushed because they thought it was the right thing to do.

"So what are you saying?" Wade asked, voicing his concern. He knew that Zoe wouldn't just break up with him, to prove a point to both of their parents. But he did need to know what was going on in that pretty little head of hers.

"I'm saying that we need to sit down and talk to them and nicely tell them to butt out of your relationship and when we're ready for the next step we'll inform them. The only people in this relationship is us and not them and they need to understand that, they need to get a new hobby. Why can't they fuss about finding Jesse the perfect girl?" Zoe asked.

"That's probably a little harder to," Wade replied. "Zo, I get where you're coming from and when we have dinner together later in the week we will bring this up to them, we don't need them putting pressure on us." Zoe smiled.

"Dinner tonight?" She asked, moving to sit up.

"How can I refuse that offer?" Wade smirked. Blushing Zoe got up and made her way to the bathroom to shower before she had to leave. With Zoe in the shower Wade got up and redressed, he tossed the shirt he had been looking for on the bed and pulled his white tee over his head. He sat at the kitchen table pulling his boots on. "Same time as normal?" Wade asked once Zoe joined him.

"Yeah, I might close a little early if nothing is going on," Zoe informed him, making sure she had everything.

"Alright, I'll be here waiting for ya to return," he replied, pulling her on his lap as she walked by him. Zoe giggled, pressing her lips against his cheek.

"I'll let you know when I'll be around," Zoe informed him, trying to move from his lap. Wade smirked, cupping her face taking her lips with his own.

Wade had walked Zoe to the practice talking about the events that had happened during the day where their mom's weren't ambushing her about marriage. She had thought that Wade would have thrown a bigger fit about it all. She was pleasantly surprised when he hadn't made a bigger deal about it. It was one of those things that she didn't want to fight with him about. She knew that one of the bigger things they had to move past before they could even think about getting married was her and what she had been through with Joel. There were plenty of other things that factored in as well.

With a kiss bye Zoe headed into the practice. She headed straight to her dad's office. "You can go now, Dad," Zoe told him. He shook his head.

"Actually I have a lot of paper work here to finish up; the place was busy this afternoon. I know you're supposed to work tonight but you don't have to stay," Harley informed her.

"I have nothing better to do, I'll stay for a few hours, need any help?" Zoe asked.

"I've got it Sweetie, but thanks for offering." Zoe smiled, turning to head out of his office.

"Dad," Zoe said trying to gain his attention turning to look at him. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Around 11," Harley replied back, not even looking up from the papers in front of him. Zoe nodded and headed out to get her dad something to eat and she would make sure that he took a break while he ate his food. She hated watching him work himself so hard without ever taking a break.

"You're like 2 hours late," Jesse chuckled, watching his brother walk up. Wade rolled his eyes.

"Give me a break," he mumbled, sitting next to him. "Not my fault that I have a hot girlfriend and easily loose track of time whenever she's around. You should try finding yourself a girlfriend," Wade remarked.

"Yeah about that," Jesse sighed, getting up to grab a couple bottles of beer.

"Why do I get the feeling I ain't gonna like what comes from your mouth next?" Wade asked, taking the beer.

"'Cause I messed up royally," Jesse stated, leaning against the wall refusing to sit back down. Wade didn't say anything just looked at his brother waiting for him to elaborate more about the situation he found himself in. "I got someone knocked up." Hearing that confession Wade was happy that he didn't have any beer in his mouth or it would be all over the place.

"Dude you're screwed," Wade chuckled. Part of him felt bad for his brother, but another part felt relief that the heat was now going to placed on Jesse and Zoe and himself would be left alone about well everything.

"Yeah thanks for reminding me," Jesse sighed.

"I do get to be your best man, right?" Wade asked not able to hold back his laughter at his brothers now pale face.

"I can't marry her," Jesse whispered.

"Dude, they're gonna make you marry her, you know this," Wade told him.

"I know," he stated, walking out. Wade sat his half empty beer down and followed his brother outside. "How do you marry someone you don't even love?"

"I don't know man,' Wade sighed, feeling for his brother. "I'll try to help ya out the best I can when it comes to Ma and Pa but I can't make any promises. I really don't know how I can take the heat off of you. Ma's gonna flip out and Dad's gonna flip out on ya."

"Don't remind me." Wade nodded, toeing at the dirt with his shoe. He really didn't know what else he could say about it all. "Do ya think you and Zoe can meet me in Mobile tomorrow for lunch to meet her?" Jesse asked.

"Does she have a name?" Wade asked.

"Jaelynn," Jesse told him.

"That's kinda cute, you gonna give your baby a name that starts with a J as well?" Wade teased, earning a growl. "I'll have to run it past Zoe; I'm not sure if she's free or not and let ya know. But seriously man, I'm here for ya."

"I know and thanks man. Just let me know, alright?" Jesse asked. Wade nodded watching his brother leave. Wade shrugged realizing that they wouldn't be working on the house. With more time then he had been anticipating he headed back to Zoe's to see what she had in her house so he could make her a nice dinner at home.

"It smells lovely in here," Zoe smiled, spotting Wade in her kitchen. "What are you making?" She asked, trying to peer over his shoulder.

"Food," he replied, shooing her out of the kitchen. Zoe laughed, sitting at the counter. "Jesse kinda needs our help with something and it does help us out as well," he told her, pulling two glasses from the cupboard and a bottle of wine from the fridge.

"What did he do now?" Zoe asked, taking the glass of wine that Wade was offering her. He waited until she swallowed the red liquid before saying anything.

"He's going to be a father and he wants us to meet her tomorrow for lunch in Mobile." She found that she wasn't all that shocked to hear that he had gotten some woman pregnant. It was going to be matter of time, it wasn't anything against Jesse he just never did like having a relationship, she couldn't recall the last time he even had girlfriend. She knew that no matter what Jesse would step up and do what was right by his child.

"Does she have a name?" Zoe asked, making Wade laugh. "What?" She asked not finding anything funny about this situation.

"I asked that same question. Jaelynn," Wade responded. That did make her smile a little.

"When's the wedding? We both know how your parents are going to be about this. I can't believe he was stupid enough to do something so irresponsible," Zoe said shaking her head. "But you're right it does get them off our back at least where your parents are considered anyway." Not that she wanted to get them off her case about Wade and their future together with something like this.

"He says he doesn't love her and I can't see him marrying this chick, Zo. I feel bad for him, but this is his mess to clear up and I'll stand by him."

"As will I. I just have to wonder if your brother is even capable of loving someone other than family. When was the last time he was even in a relationship?" Zoe asked.

"His high school sweetheart, she left him and he really thought she was it for him, but she walked away and when she had walked back into his life, she was happily married and that was when Jesse vowed that he wasn't going to set himself up for pain like that ever again. It was horrible Zoe."

"Maybe Jaelynn can open his heart up to love once more," Zoe told him thoughtfully chewing her lip, just like Wade was doing for her.

"Yeah, maybe, but enough about my brother," Wade smirked, leaning across the counter to kiss her. "Hey," he replied softly pulling away.

"Hi," she replied back in the same soft tone. "Dinner really does smell good."


	7. Chapter 7

Just like they had promised they were headed to meet Jesse and Jaelynn for lunch to not only understand the whole situation better but to find out just who Jaelynn was. The music was softly filling the car up. Wade's hand was resting on Zoe's thigh. They had been in the car for only a few minutes and open stretches of road were ahead of them.

"Hey Wade?" Zoe questioned, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. He grunted in response, squeezing her leg. "Not that it matters but it's been something that's been on my mind since it happened and well, how did you know that Joel deserved to be punched?" Zoe asked her eyes locked on their hands on her lap. She could feel him tense up just a little bit.

"We've known each other our whole lives, Zo. So I know when you're truly happy and when you're not. I can easily read you like an open book, like you can do for me," he was in the process of saying.

"So that weekend when he came with me, you knew?" Zoe asked, chewing her lip.

"Yeah," he responded, thinking back to that one weekend.

 _"Did ya hear that Zoe's back for the whole week?" Jesse asked, stealing the bag of chips that Wade was eating. Wade glared at his brother, swiping the bag back._

 _"The whole town is nothing but excited and gossiping about her and that stupid kid she brought with him," he mumbled, shoving a handful of chips into his mouth. Jesse chuckled from beside him._

 _"Jealousy is so not your color bro," he said in between laughs. Wade sent his brother a death glare._

 _"I ain't jealous," he snapped. "Who she wants to be with is all up to her, she's the one that cut me from her life!" He yelled storming to the front door._

 _"You helped her out with that one lil bro," Jesse called after his brother._

 _"Forget you!" He yelled slamming the door causing Jesse to laugh harder at him._

 _Stuffing his hands in his pants pockets he started to walk towards town. He didn't want to go there; he had plans of staying home all week until Zoe left Sunday night. He kept telling himself that she didn't want to see him to begin with so it was for the best. They were no longer friends so if they did cross paths then it was going to be extra awkward. And he didn't want to put himself in a place like that. He froze on the sidewalk seeing Zoe with a small smile on her face as they walked towards him. The dude pulled a face at the tea he had just taken a sip of. He chuckled to himself knowing just how sweet the tea from Agnes really was. The closer they walked to him the harder he tried to find a way to escape but before he could move they were turning. His eye didn't catch hers and it seemed like something had woken her up inside for a split second. He pushed the thought away and went the opposite way._

 _"Did you see Zoe and Joel?" Lemon gushed, earning an eye roll from Wade._

 _"Nope," Wade easily lied, trying to move around the blonde._

 _"You gotta meet him, Wade," Lemon told him. "He's just the sweetest thing."_

 _"Looks can be deceiving," he stated, maneuvering around Lemon._

 _"What's that mean?" She called chasing after him._

 _"Aren't you late for a Belle meeting or somethin'?" He asked avoiding giving the answer he didn't have. There was just something with the way Zoe was being. She looked up tight and on high alert. She wasn't her normal relaxed self. He could see that the second she had came into his view. Something was going on and he doubted it had anything to do with the stress level of school; she was done with school now, ready for the next stage in getting the dream job she always wanted. It had somethin' to do with the dorky looking kid he had just learned was Joel._

 _He tired with all his might to push the thoughts about Zoe out of his head, but the more he pushed the more that came back. He closed his eyes letting the memories play behind his closed eye lids; he didn't have any other choice in the matter right now. He smiled watching as they had went on far too many adventures through the woods, nothing being left unturned by them. He scowled at the few fights they've had and how because of his stubbornness he didn't have her in his life. She's to blame as well, he thought._

 _"Hey there slugger." The soft and small voice brought him right out of memory lane. A ghost of a smile played on his lips._

 _"Doc, hey," he replied, looking at her with a fierce intensity. With her standing in front of her, he could see that she was her normal relaxed self. "Enjoyin' yourself?" He asked._

 _"Yeah," she nodded. It was good to be back home; she hadn't been back in far too long. This was home. She couldn't say the same about Joel though, but she wanted a break from him to really enjoy her time and talk to the people that Joel would throw a fit about later. She wasn't even going to bring him up around Wade, things with him were just weird and she hated it. He had been her best friend for so long. "I should go," she told him, pointing behind her._

 _"Yeah, me too," he nodded, standing up. He stuffed his hands in his pockets from keeping him from pulling Zoe into a hug. Zoe gave him a wave and walked off. He watched her go._

 _"Tough luck man," George said coming up to him._

 _"Shut up," he grumbled walking off. He didn't need to hear about how he messed up or how amazing Joel was, there was something off when it came to that guy and he would figure it out._

 _Over the summer he would listen to what was being said around him. Slowly the admiration of Joel decreased. He found that amusing and listened closer to find out just why that was._

 _"I don't believe a good man like him would do something so mean to Zoe," Shula stated._

 _"It's a shame," Dash said shaking his head._

 _"He was such a good guy when he was here," Addie sighed. "I can't help but think of poor innocent Zoe in all of this."_

 _That was all he needed to hear and he was on the first flight from_ _Mobile_ _to_ _New York_ _. Looking at the paper in his hand he found the way he needed to go and headed for Zoe's place. For the first since he stopped being friends with Zoe he was happy that someone in his family still kept in contact with her and he was able to steal her address from the most recent letter she had sent to his parents._

 _"Yo Joel," he called out seeing the very man he was looking for standing in the alleyway that was next to Zoe's apartment building on the phone._

 _"What?" Joel snapped, ending his call. "Who are you?" He asked letting a chuckle out._

 _"That shit doesn't matter. I'm only going to tell you once to leave Zoe alone, she doesn't deserve the shit you're putting her through," he seethed out watching as amusement played on the other guys face._

 _"And what dare I ask are you going to do if I don't leave **my** girlfriend alone?" He asked with a sneer._

 _"This," Wade replied nonchalantly swinging his fist. He heard a loud crack as he connected with the guy's nose. Joel looked at him wide eyed. With rage overtaking Joel he speared Wade to the cement. Fists had been thrown wildly, no one that walked by even notice the fight that was going on. Wade winced once his knuckles made contact with a brick wall._

"I'm not sorry that I did that to him either," Wade told her pulling up to the little restaurant they were meeting Jesse at.

"You don't have to be," Zoe told him kissing the palm of his hand.

They walked in hand in hand. With a quick glance around the place they were able to spot Jesse. They weaved their way through the people and tables; Zoe gave Jesse a hug and sat down with help from Wade. "Where's Jaelynn?" Wade asked sitting next to Zoe.

"She's on the phone to her fiancé," Jesse informed them, cringing seeing the look on Zoe's face.

"What?" Zoe yelled under her breath. "Jesse, you can't go around sleeping with a woman who has someone special," she berated him.

"She told me she was single," Jesse hissed out. "Turns out she was taking a break from her boyfriend and he proposed and she accepted," he sighed. "I just learnt that piece of info a few minutes ago."

"There goes the wedding, I call dibs to punch him if he interrupts what will be a very interesting wedding," Wade joked. Zoe and Jesse shot him dirty looks. "It was a joke, ya know you're supposed to laugh ha-ha, you guys have no sense of humor," he mumbled under his breath.

"This isn't something to be joking about," Zoe sternly told him.

"Sorry about that," a ravened haired woman said taking the only spot left at the table.

"Its fine," Jesse replied. "This is my brother Wade and his girlfriend Zoe. Guys this is Jaelynn," he introduced.

Lunch had gone smoothly and Jaelynn was alright as far as they were concerned. Zoe did wish things would have been different for him though. She was curious about one thing though and they had kept going around the whole topic. "What is the plan for after the baby is born?" She asked, placing her glass of lemonade back on the table.

"This baby wasn't planned and not something that I can easily work into my life. I don't have the means necessary to raise a baby right now and it kills me to know that I can't keep him or her," Jaelynn told them bluntly.

"Zo, you know how we were raised and with help from the right people it can work out and I'm taking full responsibility for my baby," Jesse told them. It was the only option he could even think about doing. There was no way he was going to let anyone else raise his kid, not when he was more than able to look after them.

"We'll help you out," Wade told him, he was actually happy that he wouldn't be missing out on seeing his niece or nephew growing up. Zoe nodded agreeing with Wade. "I'm sorry that you feel like this child was a burden to you, Jaelynn," Wade told her getting up.

"It is quite sad you see your unborn child in such a light," Zoe said, getting up with help from Wade. "We'll see you later, Jesse," Zoe said lacing her fingers with Wade's and walking out of the restaurant with him.


	8. Chapter 8

"Was that really the way one acts?" Jesse yelled storming into Zoe's place. "I'm thankful that both of you are willing to help me out with the baby, but that doesn't give you the right to be mean to Jaelynn." Zoe and Wade sat on the couch sharing a look. They knew they had been in the wrong with what they said. They had no room to judge and she was doing what she thought was for the best. But to deny a baby that wasn't given a choice, it was wrong. But not to upset Jesse any further they were going to take whatever it was he had planned on dishing out to them. "You're supposed to be adults, I thought you would act like the adults you were but that was too much to ask for, wasn't it?" Jesse yelled.

"We're sorry," Wade commented holding his hand up, speaking for both of them. It was time that Jesse took a deep breath and hear them out before he continued on with his little rant.

"I personally was out of line for my comment. But her saying that she didn't want her baby that was low. I don't know the situation she's in but this baby deserves to know its mother. I will apologize to her as well. Despite this being an accident she could try and I'm proud that you're stepping up, Jesse. It proves what kind of man you are and not enough people get to see that side of you. And I will try to make amends with her on this whole thing."

"Bring her by before dinner," Wade suggested, knowing that the sooner they talked to her the easier it was going to be to talk to her about things. And well he didn't mean what he had said and he knew that Zoe didn't mean what she had said sometimes things come out before you get the chance to filter them and he did feel bad.

"I didn't like that she was just giving up either. But I do believe it's for the best. This baby will be loved," he said moving to the door. "Just hear her out and then you can judge her, if you want to," he said walking out the door. Zoe sighed letting her head fall on her boyfriend's shoulder.

"We really messed up, didn't we?" She asked, letting her eyes close shut.

"Yeah, but we can fix it," he replied, kissing her temple.

"Can we though?" Zoe asked right back.

"Of course we can," he told her trying to convince himself more than he was trying to comfort his girlfriend.

An hour later they welcoming Jesse and Jaelynn into Zoe's place with smiles on their faces, Wade got everyone something to drink. An awkward silence was starting to settle over them no one was willing to talk first. Wade nudged Zoe to say something and she shot him a look. Things were starting to get ridiculous when Jaelynn finally spoke up. She spent the last few minutes taking in the place as far as she was allowed to see from the chair she was sitting in.

"You guys have a lovely home, how long have you been living together? Jesse told me that you guys have been friends since the womb. I do find it sweet that you found love among your friendship," she told them. Zoe gave her a soft smile.

"Thanks, actually we don't live together, he's just over here all the time, its better than staying at his place with his roommate hanging around all the time," Zoe replied. "It took as a while, miles and a rekindled friendship to find that love but I couldn't imagine loving anyone else," Zoe said, slipping her hand into Wade's.

"Me either," Wade responded. "Her place comes with privacy and food," he joked before turning serious to bite the bullet. "We're sorry about the way we acted this afternoon."

"We should support your decision in whatever you do. But don't you want to know you child as he or she grows?" Zoe asked.

"Of course I do and under different circumstances I would but things with Mitchell are complicated right now and I don't want to bring a baby up in the mess my life is with him."

"But why marry him?" Zoe asked.

"Because he's a good man just misunderstood and I love him," she sighed with hesitation. Zoe shot a look at Wade and he got the hint.

"Jesse, I need your help with something outside," Wade said, letting the girls have a moment alone. Jesse shrugged and followed his little brother outside.

"Love doesn't fix anything. I thought I was in love with someone else and I let him walk all over me because I thought it was the right thing to do, but it's not Jaelynn, you control your life not some guy. You tried to leave him didn't you?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah that's when I had hooked up with Jesse but it wasn't a one time thing with Jesse, I was confused and I didn't feel loved and when Mitchell came back into my life a few months later he promised me that he had changed but he hasn't and he doesn't want to raise another mans baby," she confessed.

"Do you have feelings for Jesse?" Zoe asked staying away from the heavier topic.

"I had fun with him but I don't see him as anything but a friend to me."

"You can't marry Mitchell because you're afraid, walking away seems hard but I'm here to help you and I think together we can help each other."

"I really thought you hated me but you're willing to help me, why?" Jaelynn asked.

"Because we all need help at some point in your lives and I didn't hate you I hated the choice you made about your baby, I understand now," Zoe told her.

"I don't see anything out here," Jesse sighed, looking at the side of the house. "What's going on?" He asked, taking a seat on the back porch next to Wade.

"Zoe wanted a moment to talk to your baby mama about something private, my guess it has to do with her guy."

"The dude's a total douche," Jesse spit out, thinking back to the one time he had the wonderful pleasure to meet the guy. He was ready to punch the dude, but instead he had walked away.

"You don't say?" Wade mocked. He saw some of the signs that he saw in Zoe in Jaelynn, he had a feeling something bigger was going on with the man she claimed to love.

Hearing the laughter that was coming from inside the house, they got up and made their way back in.

"Jesse do you think that we can maybe hold off on me meeting and telling your parents until next week?" Jaelynn asked, chewing her bottom lip.

"Sure thing," Jesse answered. Honestly he wasn't ready to drop this bomb on his parents just yet. Saying byes were friendlier this time and promises of meeting up at later dates were made.

"Everything okay?" Wade asked, getting ready to go to dinner at his parents' house.

"Yeah, I just know where she's coming from after…" she trailed off, pulling her shoes on. There was no need to go into detail about it.

"Jesse said the guy was a real class act," Wade said, pulling Zoe into him. Zoe rested her head against his chest.

"That's an understatement," she mumbled. "Do we really have to go tonight? I don't know if I can keep something this big from your parents or mine for that matter," she told him. She was really close with her parents and she had very few secrets hid from her parents. They even knew about Joel.

"We don't have to go and next week when we show up the attention will be off of us for not being there this week, but we'll have to avoid them all week."

"We wouldn't have to avoid them all week if we tell them that we were busy elsewhere and time had been forgotten about. They can't get mad at us for going on a date. These dinners are not mandatory for us, they only ever had them to get us together and now that we are there's not a point in them, at least not for us anyway," Zoe replied.

"True but what are we going to do? They'll see us leaving town."

"Then we hide a car in the garage and we stay in, there's food in the fridge and I do have the best cook this side of Mississippi in my house," Zoe smirked. Wade chuckled pulling her for a kiss. This was one little scheme he could get behind. He would much rather spend the night with his girl alone and not be bombarded with questions from both of their parents not only about them but why Jesse had suddenly cancelled on them. It was easier to stay at Zoe's place. "Or we can just call them and tell them we won't be making it tonight," Zoe tacked on pulling away from him.

"Right," he mumbled calling his parents house as Zoe called her parents.


	9. Chapter 9

"What are you and Wade doing tonight?" Lemon called from Zoe's living room, looking through a magazine.

"Staying in," Zoe called back from the kitchen. She busy getting the three of them something to drink. "I want to make him a romantic dinner," she was saying walking back in with some drinks, she sat down. "You know it's like he just decided to move in," she mussed.

"Why's that?" AB asked, sipping on her drink. "You best let us help you with that, burnt food and a fire isn't exactly romantic." She giggled nodding in agreement.

"This morning after he left for work I was gathering clothes to wash and his pile of dirty clothes was greater than my pile and putting them away, he's taken over half my closet with his clothes, not to mention that his video games are here. He has a guitar in the corner in like every room," she was explaining. "He hasn't stayed at his place in weeks and when he comes back here from visiting with Meatball he's got more things adding them in with mine," she finished.

"I think it's cute. We knew when we were kids that you two were destined to be together, you just wouldn't listen to reason," Lemon laughed. "But how does it make you feel?" She asked, knowing what she had gone through with Joel.

"Happy," she responded, looking over by the door to see his shoes next to a pair of hers, she was waiting for the doubt to settle in but it never came. And she liked the way that her placed looked with Wade's things mixed in with hers. She wasn't completely over what Joel had put her through but she could feel the wall she had built was crumbling down from the love she had for Wade and that he was proving to be just the kind of guy she could be with forever.

"Then instead of tossing his things out on the front lawn you bring it up in casually conversation not making a big deal out of things," AB suggested.

"I don't want to end things with him AB," Zoe laughed. "I was planning on talking to him about this whole thing, but I think now I need to go see George about getting Wade's name added to the deed and all that stuff," she told her friends.

Lemon and Annabeth nodded and they started to talk about other things. They let themselves relax and laugh at the gossip that was going on around the town.

A few blocks away Wade was busy at work when Meatball took a spot at the bar. Wade finished up what he was doing and made his way over to his friend.

"What can I get ya?" Wade asked.

"An explanation would be nice," Meatball responded with. Wade shot him a look of amusement.

"Explanation for what?" Wade asked, leaning against the bar.

"Funny thing happened to me this morning, I went into your room at least it's suppose to be your room only to find a bed, a dresser and a closet, which were all empty. When did you move out and where'd you go? You could've talked to me; the lease is up next month anyway."

"Shit," he mumbled rubbing his hands over his face. He didn't realize what it was he was doing when he kept bringing things over to Zoe's place. At first it was just more of his clothes because he was spending more time there with her and it made more sense to have more of his things there and he liked to fool around with his guitar when he couldn't sleep so they had to come over and his video games made the trip when he got tired of waiting for Zoe with nothing to do when she was still working. So everything had its reason on why he had brought it over and why it was still there. He did like going to sleep with Zoe in his arms and waking up with her next to him. "I've been at Zoe's place," he replied, coming back from his thoughts.

"It would have been nice to be told," Meatball snapped, getting up.

"It would have been nice to know," Wade muttered.

"How'd you not know?" Meatball laughed, shaking his head. "Does Zoe know?"

"I don't know," he answered. "I don't think she does." If she knew then she would have confronted him about it. He was left to think about this new development in his life for the next two hours. Zoe wasn't going to be around the Rammer Jammer today she was having a girl's day so he had time to freak out without Zoe around to see him. He wasn't sure how he was going to get Zoe to be okay with this. He didn't want to move back out. Moving in with her may have been unintentional but it was something he wanted. Didn't matter that they hadn't been dating that long, they've known each other and been best friends since they were babies, they knew each other better than anyone other couple their age in this town.

Being cautious Wade entered Zoe's house or was it now his house? Either way he softly shut the door behind him. He smiled, bending over to untie his boots to pull them off. "Something smells good," Wade commented, seeing that Zoe had the table set and candles lit. "What's going on?" He asked leaning over Zoe, his arms going around her waist.

"Thought I would do something nice for you," she commented, leaning back against him as she placed some salad on the plates.

"Thank you," he murmured, tilting her head up to share a kiss with her.

Zoe smiled into the kiss, turning around in his arms, her own arms wrapping around his neck pulling him closer to her. She broke the kiss, looking up at him. "There's papers for you on the table, the food is going to be a minute longer yet," she informed him.

"So who made the food? We both know you can't cook to save a life," he joked.

"Lemon and AB helped me while they were here today," she responded, checking on the casserole that was in the oven.

"What's this?" Wade asked, seeing a bunch of papers he needed to sign.

"I don't know if you've noticed that you live here now or if that fact has slipped your mind like it did mine, but I thought I might as well make it official, that is if you want to," she told him afraid to turn around to look at him so she kept herself busy.

"And you're really okay with this?" He checked. "Because if not I can move things back to my old place," he informed her. It wasn't what he wanted to do, he wanted to sign these papers, he wanted to live with Zoe, he just had to make sure that she was okay with this even if she was the one to get the papers for him to sign and be on the deed to the house and on all the bills as well.

"Now that you've made your mark in what I'm hoping will be our house. I do admit that I found myself freaking out once Lemon and AB had left earlier, but this is something that I want and I want to be over this hold that Joel seems to have on my life and the first step in doing so is to move on with my life and I know that I can trust you. I want to live you with you and not have this fear hanging over my head so I yes I want this, do you?" Zoe asked, laying it all out there for him.

"You can't rid of me," he smirked, scribbling his signature in all the right spots. "Tomorrow it will be official," he stated, slipping the papers back into the envelope he had taken them out of. "I love you Zoe, so freaking much," he told her.

Placing the plates on the table, she slipped onto his lap, pulling his face down to let her lips connect with his. Pulling away before things got too heated between them; she placed her forehead against his. "I love you too," she told him, feeling the wall crumble down a little bit more. She was going to have her good days and without a doubt she was going to have her bad days.

Wade was ready to leave dinner and show Zoe how much he loved her for finding the strength deep within herself to finally say those three words out loud to him, when they were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Stay put and I'll send whoever it is away," he smirked, quickly kissing her. "I'm coming, hold on to your damn pants," he muttered quickly walking through the living room to the front door. "What the hell are you doing here?" He growled.


	10. Chapter 10

"Wade," Zoe scolded him. Hearing his growl, she quickly made her way to the door to see who was on the other side and surprised was understatement. "Dr. Hart why don't you please come in," she stated, opening the door wider.

"Thank you Zoe, but please call me Ethan, we no longer work together," he replied, stepping into the house.

"Excuse us for a minute, Wade," Zoe told him.

"Sure thing, babe," he replied, kissing her cheek, glaring at the older man that entered their house. He headed into the little make shit den and messed around on the computer Zoe had in there. He left the door open so he could hear what was being said. For Dr. Hart to show up out of the blue the way he had wasn't because he was bringing good news with him. If it wouldn't have been for stupid Dr. Hart giving Zoe a place at his hospital in New York Zoe would have been home years ago and she would have been able to avoid some of the things with Joel. To him the doctor that just entered their house was the enemy in their lives.

"What can I do for you Ethan?" Zoe asked, sitting across from him in the living room.

"I don't mean to just barge in like this, but we need you back. It's a mess without you there, is there anything I can do to make you come back?" He asked desperation shining in his eyes. Zoe shook her head. "Please?" He begged.

"I'm sorry," she told him. "I appreciate that you have offered me a job and taken me under your wing while I was there, but I can't come back," she told him firmly. She couldn't leave Bluebell again not now that she had so many good things going on in her life. She was away from the blackness that was her past in New York, she couldn't go back there.

"Is there anything?" He questioned with a pleading tone. She shook her head. "Can you maybe like think about it for a few days and get back to me. We'd really love to have you back there. You can't possible enjoy the work you do here," he said grasping for something, for anything at that matter.

"I do enjoy the work I do here, I love it here, that's why I came back here," she told him, her voice rising. It may have been half the truth but she did mean it. She loved being back in Bluebell and she loved the work she did at the practice.

"Come on, Zoe. You talked about this place like it was hell for you," he said. She shook her head.

"No I didn't. At the time I was in New York Bluebell seemed that way but that was on me because I lost a certain person that was everything to me and now that I have him back in my life…" she sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry but I don't need to think about anything, Dr. Hart. I'm not leaving," she told him with finality in her voice.

"Please, Zoe," he begged once more.

"She said no, so now I suggested you get out of here," Wade told him, storming into the room.

"If you change your mind, you know where to find me," Ethan told her, seeing himself out.

The house suddenly became quiet as they listened to the car start up and drive away. Zoe couldn't even look at Wade and he found that he couldn't look else where than at his girlfriend. He was so busy getting his thoughts in order that he hadn't even heard Zoe talking to him. "Huh?" He asked, mentally shaking the thoughts from his head, and that had only angered the petite woman in front of him more.

"Why?" She seethed looking at him. He raised an eyebrow locking eyes with her. "Did you not trust that I would tell you what it was he wanted that you have to eavesdrop?" She asked a tremble to her voice.

"It was nothing like that, baby," he swore, moving over to her. "It's him I didn't trust."

"I didn't need…" she sighed, burying her face into his chest.

"Shh baby, it's okay, it's gonna be okay. You don't have to do nothin' you don't want to do."

"I loved working at the hospital in New York; so many different people came through those doors hourly. I loved what I did there, but Bluebell is home and I have you here and New York is so dark," she was saying, feeling the circles that Wade was rubbing into her back.

"If you want to go back to New York then we'll figure something out, I can easily move to be with you. I support whatever it is that you want to do," Wade assured her. She pulled back a little looking up at him.

"You'd really move to New York for me?" She asked her big doe eyes filled with love and admiration for him. Maybe she would think about going back as long as she had Wade.

"I'd follow you anywhere, baby," he whispered, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose. "Promise." Zoe smiled, pulling him closer to kiss him which he had easily deepened.

The next night found them sitting around a table at the Rammer Jammer with their parents. Earl and Harley were eying the two of them up, able to see that they were easily hiding something from them. Jackie and Candice were busy talking quietly between themselves.

"Alright what's going on?" Wade asked, reaching for Zoe's hand under the table.

"What is it you know that we don't?" Earl shot right back.

"I have no clue, I think you're going delusional in that old age of yours," Wade joked.

"Watch it, boy," Earl warned a chuckle on his lips.

"A new house opened up over on…"

"Save it," Wade said cutting his mom off. He looked at Zoe and she nodded letting him know that it was okay to tell them the news. They did hope this would take the heat off of them knowing about Jesse and get the stares to stop from Harley and Earl.

"What is it?" Earl asked a smug smirk on his face.

"I moved into Zoe's place," Wade told them with a shrug. "It's a big deal, we all knew it was coming," he explained, squeezing her hand under the table. It was a huge thing for them, but they didn't need their parents to make it even bigger.

"This is great," Candice squealed. "A spring wedding would be gorgeous," she stated.

"I can see it now," Jackie added in.

"We're living together, not getting married," Zoe spoke up.

"But you love each other and it's only right," Candice stated.

"We do love each other, but marriage isn't right for us, not right now," Wade stated.

"I suppose but a spring wedding it is when you're both ready," Jackie clarified with a heavy sigh.

"I got an offer to go back to work under Dr. Hart," Zoe blurted out.

"Absolutely not," Harley spoke up for the first time that night. "I will not allow to go work for him, not happening." Zoe looked down at her plate of food. She thought her dad was going to react in such a way. Earl went to make a joke but seeing his son shake his head with a look of concern on his face he knew not to push it.

"When did you talk to Dr. Hart?" Candice asked suddenly very intrigued. He was a good friend of hers and she had talked him into giving Zoe a chance once she refused to come home. Ethan Hart was a person that she trusted, knew him for years before she ever moved to Bluebell to be with Harley.

"He stopped over last night," Zoe told them softly.

"For the record we've talked about this and she told him no, but with all due respect Harley, we can't make Zoe stay if she really wants to go back and if she decides she wants to go back there I'm going with her," he told them all, a protectiveness surging through him.

"I don't like it, but I can't make you do anything you don't want to, just really think about this, honey," Harley told her, love in his eyes.

"I will," she told them.

Earl and Jackie shared a look, they could tell they were missing something, but they didn't comment on it. They knew it had something to do with the rumors that floated around town about what happened in New York between Zoe and Joel. It just wasn't their business so they let it slide.

"Who wants to tell me what they know about Jesse?" Jackie asked sending her youngest a pointed look.

"No idea, Ma," Wade replied with a shrug. She could tell that her son was lying to her and there wasn't anything she could do about that now that he no longer lived at home and she could no longer scare him into telling her the truth. She turned her sights on her future daughter in law and watched as she squirmed in her seat. A plan forming in her head.

"I was thinking that we go to Mobile tomorrow Zoe, just the two of us. We haven't done that since before you left, does that sound okay with you?" Jackie asked a sweet smile on her lips.

"That sounds really nice," Zoe replied with a soft smile. She really did think of Jackie as a second mother growing up. It was easier to talk to Jackie about things then it was with her own mom especially when said things had to do with Wade. Spending time with Jackie the two of would be good, even if she knew that Jackie was up to something.

"Ma," Wade warned her.

"Relax Wade," Jackie told her son. Wade sent her mom a look and could tell that she was going to get the info out of Zoe in some way. Maybe he should come clean about Jesse so that way he wasn't sending Zoe into a mine field when it came to his mom wanting answers. Then he thought better of that, Zoe knew what she was getting into and he was fairly certain that she would be able to handle herself. Feeling Zoe's hand squeeze his told him that staying quiet was the way to go.


	11. Chapter 11

Zoe and Jackie spent an hour walking around the mall nothing serious had been discussed. Zoe had talked to Wade assuring him that she wouldn't spill Jesse's secret because it wasn't up to her to tell. Zoe actually had a few questions of her own to ask Jackie about her mom.

"Jesse is okay, he's not in any danger is he?" Jackie asked. Earl had talked to her last night telling her to leave things with Jesse alone and to stop putting Wade and Zoe in the middle of things and when Jesse was ready to tell them he would. Earl was just as worried about his oldest but he knew that they couldn't be putting pressure on him or the other kids to make any of them spill whatever Jesse was hiding from them.

"No danger I can assure you of that," Zoe told her, stopping to look at some jewelry on display. Jackie watched as Zoe's face lit up looking at a necklace, she'd mention it to Wade. "It's his thing to tell and it'll sound so much better coming from him than anyone else," she added, turning to Jackie. "I do want to tell you and Earl but I can't, it's not my business to tell."

"I get it," Jackie sighed. "I just worry about him is all," Jackie said, looking over at Zoe to see that she had once again slipped into her own little world. "Is there something on your mind?"

"What do you know about my mom and Dr. Hart?" Zoe asked her pace slowing. "I know she dated him and she had to pick my dad or Ethan but what really happened?"

"I think that's a question for your mom. I don't know much about that whole situation," Jackie replied. She only knew what she was told and it wasn't much. She didn't know the whole history between Ethan Hart and Candice, it was something she had been left out of the loop of and she hadn't been hung up on knowing anything about it because what happened between the two of them had nothing to do with her.

"I've asked and she brushes the whole conversation away," Zoe said sitting down on a bench. "His name gets brought up and my dad is on the defensive. My mom asks all these weird questions about him. What is it about Ethan Hart that gets them so hard to deal with?" Zoe asked frustrated over this whole thing. She liked Ethan, he had done an amazing job taking her under his wing and teaching her everything he knew.

"Sweetie, just like you can't tell me about Jesse I can't tell you about Ethan, it's not my business and I don't have all the facts to give you. Sweetie, you really should talk to your mom about it and make her talk to you."

"Is it bad?" Zoe asked, looking down, Jackie rubbing soft circles on her back. "It has to be."

"Come on, Zo," Jackie directed getting up. "We should get back." With a sigh Zoe got up and followed Jackie out of the mall. She was trying to fit pieces together but she couldn't not without more information. She tried to remember if Dr. Hart had told her anything useful but outside of the hospital she rarely saw him. When she did see him he was just making sure that everything was still good with her and that she was liking the city. Nothing out of the ordinary was there to make her think any different of the man.

"I know you and mom want us to be happy but can you guys tone the whole wedding stuff down?" Zoe asked, taking her mind off of Dr. Hart. This was something she was meaning to talk to both her mom and Jackie about. "I love your son and one day I hope I can be lucky enough to be his wife but the more you and mom push the more I start to think that I don't want to get married," Zoe explained.

"I do suppose we've gone a tab overboard on the whole wedding stuff. I never stopped to see how it was affecting you or Wade." Zoe smiled hearing that. It would put less pressure on them. And if she was ever to marry Wade she wanted him to make the decision on his own and not be forced into something he didn't want.

Getting back into town Zoe headed straight to her parent's place that was after she put what little she had bought at the mall away. She did need to build up the courage to actually approach this topic with her mom. Walking into the house she was hoping that her dad was at work because it would be easier if he wasn't there. She found her mom at the kitchen counter putting new pamphlets together.

"How was the mall?" Candice asked, glancing up to see Zoe.

"It was good, can I ask you something?" Zoe asked, sitting next to her mom.

"You can ask me anything, dear. What's going on?" Candice asked stopping what she was doing.

"Dr. Ethan Hart, what's going on with him?" Zoe asked. Candice frowned looking at her daughter.

"I don't know what you are talking about. He's a good friend even after we broke up. I wanted to feel safe with you in New York, I asked him to keep an eye on you. There isn't more to the story," she replied.

"That's where you're wrong, mom. He wouldn't come all this way to ask me to come back. I wasn't that good," Zoe admitted.

"I don't know what else to tell you, dear," Candice sighed. "There isn't more to the story." Zoe could see that her mom was holding something back from her.

"Try telling me the truth, that would be a good place to start from," Zoe sneered getting up.

"How does this look?" Candice asked pointing to the pamphlet on the counter.

"Unbelievable!" Zoe exclaimed throwing her hands in the air, walking out of the house. She would get the answers she wanted whether they were from her mom or someone else.

Wade walked into the house the last of his laughter dying on his lips. He had talked to his mom so he knew that Zoe was back but the house was quiet. Looking in all the rooms he came up empty trying to find her. He was just walking down the stairs when Zoe burst into the house. "You okay?" She shook her head marching right past him. Scratching his head he followed his girlfriend. He stood in the doorway watching as she pulled a suitcase out and started to toss clothes in. "Going somewhere?" He asked calmly as panic started to build up.

"New York" she replied, walking into the bathroom.

"Why?" He asked, following behind her.

"I need to talk to Ethan Hart," she replied, pushing past him.

"Why?" He asked, following her once more. "Are you taking the job there?"

"No," she responded, flipping the suitcase closed.

"Then what's going on?" He asked, only she ignored him going downstairs to where the computer was at. "Damn it Zo, what the hell are you not telling me?" He asked storming into the room behind her. He could no longer control his anger.

"I'm trying to figure that out," she responded, booking herself a flight from Mobile to New York.

"Can you tell me what the hell is going on here?" He asked, blocking the doorway not letting Zoe get away again.

"Can you move?" Zoe asked calmly. Wade shook his head. "Why can't you? I have a flight to catch," she told him.

"Tell me what's going on, Zo," he replied, putting his hands on her shoulders getting her to stop for a second.

"My mom is keeping something from me and I need to talk to Ethan to figure it. If she won't tell he has to tell me. I have a feeling it's something big."

"I'm coming with you," he informed her

"No you're not," she shot back at him.

"Like hell I'm not. You're gonna need me there with whatever he has to tell you and then there's the whole thing with Joel, I'm not letting you go off by your damn self," he hissed out.

"I'm your girlfriend, not your damn charity case Wade," she yelled at him. "I can handle whatever it is the doctor has to tell me and I can handle seeing Joel again. I don't need you there to hold my hand."

"I never said that," he grumbled. "You know what you were doing so amazing at dealing with Joel on your own before," he sarcastically replied. "Ya know what? I think I'll stay home. Enjoy your time in the city," he growled storming out of the house. Zoe jumped hearing the door slam shut behind her boyfriend.

She blinked the tears away and went up to the room and got her things. She didn't want to leave while she was fighting with Wade but she couldn't afford to miss her flight. Hopefully when she returned things would be better between the two of them.

The flight to New York was long and her mind was filled with Wade the whole way there. She tried to push things out of her mind and focus on the reason she was headed to New York in the first place. Ethan Hart. Finding him was going to be the easy part, at one point she thought he lived at the hospital, he was always there. She had only ever seen him outside of the hospital a handful of times.

By the time she had gotten to a hotel and checked in, she was exhausted not only from the fight she had with Wade but from the long day she had, traveling hadn't helped her out any either. She tried to call Wade but her call went straight to voicemail. She left a small messaging to let him know that she was safe and to call her when he got her message. She slept with her phone all night.

Waking up in the morning she frowned seeing that Wade hadn't tried to call her or even sent her a massage to let her know that he had gotten the message she left for him. With a sigh she got out of bed and got ready for the day head of herself.

"Hello Dr. Wilkes it's been a few months since we've seen you around here," Melody greeted. "Are you here to see Dr. Hart? He mentioned that you might be coming in."

"Is he in?" Zoe asked smiling at the nurse stationed at the nurse's station.

"He's in the cafeteria, just walked by a few minutes ago." Zoe told her thanks and headed in the direction the hospital cafeteria was located in. Spotting him was easy. He normally always sat in the back corner, overlooking the little pond that was there.

"This is a surprise, but I thought you might show up," Ethan smiled as Zoe slid into the booth across from him.

"I'm not here for the job, I'm here for something else completely," Zoe told him.

"What else is there?" He asked, putting his fork down.

"What happened between you and my mom? I know she's keeping something from me and you know what it is, so spill," she demanded.

"You need to be having this talk with her," Ethan commented.

"I did multiple times and she won't tell me anything. I just want to know what's going on. So can you please tell me what's going on?" Zoe asked.

"I think you have every right to know what's going on and she'll be mad I told you, but it's something your old enough to hear. I was willing to give your mother everything, I wanted to marry her. She needed time to think so she went on that cruise where she had met your father," he explained clearing his throat. "When she came back she told me that she couldn't marry me because she didn't love me enough. Long story short, there's a good chance that I could be your father."

"That can't be true," Zoe told him shaking her head. "No!" Her little outburst had gained the attention from everyone that was in the cafeteria.

"It can be true. Now that you know the facts, you go back to Bluebell and you ask her."

Zoe shook her head and walked off, ignoring the people that had tried to stop her. The ones she had easily made as her friends while living here, but right now she didn't have time for that. She needed to get back to her hotel room to let her tears out about the possibility that her whole life could be a lie. With her head down she wasn't paying much attention to where she was going and she ran into someone.

"I'm sorry," she apologized going to walk around them

"Couldn't stay away could you, Zoe?" The voice had her frozen with fear. On top of everything else she had to run into him.

"Joel," she said, refusing to look at him. She went to walk away if only her legs would let her go. His hand on her upper arm had her trembling with her fear going into overdrive.


	12. Chapter 12

"Don't do anything stupid, Zoe," he hissed in her ear. "We don't want to draw attention, now do we?" She looked around, before she brought her foot up and kicked behind her hitting his knee with a deep shaky breath and staying relatively calm she was able to pull her arm away from his grasp. Joel wasn't the person that wanted to cause a scene on the busy sidewalk; he stepped back and rubbed his knee.

"You've ruined so much for me; I can't have you ruining even more things in my life, Joel. You were a stupid mistake. Stay away from me," she hissed.

"You're the one that came here, Zoe," he smirked. "We both know that you were going to end up at my place before you left. That little boyfriend of yours can't do anything right, like loving you," he stated, running his knuckles down her cheek. She slapped his hand away.

"I won't ever come here for you, Joel. Get that through your sick and twisted head. Wade is more man than you'll ever be," she smirked. "I love him," she told him her smirk turning into a soft smile walking off. She needed to get home and fix this thing with Wade.

"We'll see about that," he called after her. Zoe shook her head. She was done with Joel and she was done with whatever she thought New York had to offer her. She was leaving the city as soon as possible. She may not have said the things she wished she could have said to Joel, but there was nothing to say because in the end it didn't matter. He wouldn't care what she said to him. She had to find away to get rid of the feelings he had evoked within her. Slowly she was able to overcome the power Joel had on her heart to fully love Wade and trust him like she had growing up. She was going to have her reservations about things and well it wouldn't hurt if she saw a therapist to help her overcome the obstacles that Joel had placed in her way.

Getting her things from baggage claim she headed to the parking lot. "Where is he and what did he do this time?" Zoe asked seeing George leaning against the side of his truck.

"You ain't gonna like it," he said running a hand through his short hair.

"I figured that much when I saw you waiting," Zoe replied tossing her bags in. "Now what did my knuckle head of a boyfriend do?" She asked once more.

"He got drunk, started a bar fight last night. Sheriff Bill still has him detained," George explained with the short version. Zoe only shook her head. "Charges won't be pressed and he's free to go once I bring you by."

"Take me home. I can't deal with him right now, George. Maybe he'll learn that drinking and starting fights is not the answer to everything."

"You sure?" George checked.

"More than sure," Zoe replied. Going home and dealing with her parents before dealing with Wade. It was going to be easier that way. There was a fight with Wade waiting to happen. Putting him off may have been a bad idea but it was for the best. "Thanks George," Zoe told him getting get bags and getting out of his truck.

"It's nothing and Zo, don't wait too long," George told her.

"I won't," she assured him.

"Shouldn't you be getting your boyfriend from jail?" Candice asked looking up from the paper work in front of her. "How was New York?" She should have guessed that the whole town of Bluebell was going to know she headed to New York and her boyfriend is sitting in one of the three jail cells this town has. Of course rumors were going to fly.

"That's my next stop actually. I talked to Dr. Ethan Hart. You had every reason to keep that a secret. That man is whack. There is no chance that I'm his daughter," she laughed.

"Oh sweetie," Candice coed, biting her lip.

"There was a chance," Harley said, entering the room.

"But?" Zoe asked outraged they had kept something like that from her. They should have told her before now.

"He's not. He wanted custody of you. A paternity test was taken and I was proven to be your father. That man has wanted to get his revenge on me since the day your ma turned him down and picked us over him. He's looking to start something and with your ma refusing to tell you things you fell into his trap." Hearing more of an explanation on things she found it hard to stay mad at them.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" She asked.

"I didn't see the point in putting you through something that was unnecessary," Candice explained. Zoe nodded giving her parents hugs. It was just a bunch of useless drama and she had been put in the middle of a petty lovers quarrel.

Zoe stepped into the sheriff's office, giving him a smile. "Thanks for taking such great care of him," she told Bill.

"He was asleep for most of it. I figured it was best you came to get him."

"I appreciate it Bill," Zoe told him.

"It really wasn't a bother. He was good company. Don't be too hard on him. He cares greatly about you and he's sorry for whatever it was he had done. You ain't leaving us again are you?"

"I had something that needed to be dealt with in the city. I have plans of never leaving Bluebell," she told him. "Can I take him home now? It's been a long day."

"Of course. I'll just be a minute."

She wasn't left waiting long when Sheriff Bill came back with Wade. They spoke in hushed whispers so she couldn't make out what they were saying. When they finished Wade turned to his girlfriend gave her a weak smile and headed out. The short walk home was done in silence Zoe a few steps in front of Wade.

"That explains the phone call I didn't get. Did you happen to find whatever answer was waiting for you at the bottom of every beer bottle you drained last night?" Zoe asked, once Wade shut the front door.

"Here I thought you'd be happy," he sarcastically told her. Zoe rolled her eyes at him. "It took a few to realize that I had messed up and said some horrible things and I'm sorry for what I had said. I don't want to fight, I really just want to curl up with my beautiful girlfriend and watch movies the rest of the night," he said, slipping his hands into hers.

"I want that too," she replied. "Do you learn your lesson at least?" Being mad at him wasn't worth it. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have gotten mad and pushed you away. I wanted you to come with but at the same time I wanted to deal with things myself."

"I know you are, baby," he whispered, pulling her close. "What happened?"

"Stupid drama and Dr. Hart was trying to place me in the middle saying I could be his. But I'm not. Joel found me. But it turned out okay," she told him feeling him tense up.

"He didn't hurt you did he?"

"Just scared me and left a red mark on my arm, but nothing serious. I was able to handle it. I really just want to be in your arms because that's where I feel the safest at," she finished in a whisper. Wade kissed her head and picked her up carrying her to bed.


	13. Chapter 13

_**I'm so sorry for the little delay with this chapter and for it being on the short side. Enjoy.**_

* * *

"It must be serious if you have breakfast on the table and that far off look on your face. What's going on?" Wade asked, taking his normal seat, across from Zoe. Waking up in bed alone wasn't unusual for him, but seeing his girlfriend in a different world at the table that scared him, though it was easy to play it off.

"Are you always going to run off and get drunk when we fight?" She asked glancing down. It was easy to let things go last night when all she wanted was to be safe in his arms, but now they needed to sort this out.

"No," he simply told her. "I was only planning on having one or two, until I could get my anger and pain, reigned in," he told her softly. He didn't want to turn this discussion into a fight. "The more I drank the angrier I got that you didn't trust me enough." He held up a hand to silence whatever Zoe was going to say, he had more to say and he needed to get it off his chest. "I get that you needed to go by yourself, but Zoe I'm your boyfriend that means that we're in this together. I would never stand in your way," he told her softly. "It hurts to think that you could even consider that."

"I never once considered that Wade. I know you're not going to get in my way, don't you dare go putting words in my mouth," she told him taking a deep breath keeping herself from yelling at him. "I know that you would have let me handle everything by myself while in New York and I could have used you while dealing with not only Ethan but with Joel as well, but it was something that I needed to be alone for, to know that I am strong enough to handle things in my life after everything Joel had put me through, do you get that?"

"You don't think I don't understand that?" Wade asked feeling his anger starting to build up. As much as he didn't want this to turn into a full blown out fight it might just happen. "I've been understanding of this whole mess with Joel and taking things as slow as you need them to be, Zoe. As long as I get to be with you then I'm good, but to keep thinking that I'm not good enough for you, that's what hurts," he sighed defeated.

"Wade," Zoe said closing her eyes feeling the tears burning her brown orbs. "You're more than good enough for me. I'm the broken one here, if anything I'm not good enough for you," she whispered. Never in a million years had she seen their talk taking this direction. "I'm broken and I don't know if I can be fixed. One minute things are good, extremely good, but then I have these days were all I wanted to do is hide in my head because I'm scared and I know that I don't have anything to be scared of, but it's still there in the back of mind no matter how much I pretend it's not it is and I hate that it is, Wade. I love you, but I don't think that I'm ever going to be fully healed from what I've been through," she told him.

"Zo," Wade said softly, moving around the table stepping in front his girlfriend's path of her pacing. He wrapped his arms around her, his right hand stroking her hair, his left hand resting on the middle of her back; he pressed a soft kiss to her temple. "A broken Zoe Wilkes is beautiful inside and out," he whispered in her ear. "I don't care if you're always going to have this broken piece inside of you. I love you and I want to be with you just the way you are, Zo. Nothing can change my mind about that. Just don't push me away, please don't push me away," he pleaded, resting his forehead against the top of her head, his eyes closed. "Please don't."

"I won't," she whispered choking on the other words. She let them fall away, nothing more needed to be said right now. The love that surrounded them was enough to ease their worries and questions away.

"Why don't we go away for awhile, just us," Wade suggested, pulling back enough to look her in the eyes.

"What about Jesse? We promised him that we'd be there for him," Zoe said, chewing on her bottom lip. She would much rather take off and spend a few days alone with Wade where no one knew who they were than to deal with the drama Jesse was bringing along with him.

"He's a big boy, he got himself into this mess without us being there, he can tell mom and dad that he knocked someone up himself, we don't need to hold his hand," Wade told her. He was being harsh but it was the truth. There wasn't anything that Wade or Zoe could do to take the heat off his brother. That didn't mean that he didn't support his brother, but his relationship with Zoe was worth more to him than watching his parents become disappointed in Jesse.

"As long as you explain to Jesse why we won't be there for him," Zoe told him. Wade nodded, kissing her forehead. "Where do plan on taking us?" She questioned, her eyes sparkling up at him, a smile playing on her lips.

"Wherever the road leads us," he smirked cupping her face. "As long as we're together than the destination doesn't matter," he whispered, capturing her lips with his own.

That was all it took for Wade to convince Zoe that they needed this time to themselves to help them build their relationship back up after the last few days. They needed to focus on them and not worry about Jesse, Wade was right he was old enough to handle telling his parents of the mess he had created for himself and how he was going to take full responsibility and step up and be the man that they knew was deep within himself.


	14. Chapter 14

They had packed the car and took off after making the necessary arrangements with family and work. Wade was behind the wheel as the drove off into the sunset letting the road led them to their final destination. They talked and laughed, sang along with the radio and all around had a fun time. They were in the middle of Tennessee when the car broke down. They had to call a tow truck to get the car because Wade didn't know how to fix what was wrong. They were able to get a room at a nearby hotel and called it a night snuggling up to each other.

Waking up in the morning they headed out for some breakfast. That was when they were able to see just how pretty the little town they had ended up in was. It was bigger than Bluebell but it had that small town vibe to it. They found a local little café.

"Ya know my mom is kinda freaking out over what you told her a few days ago," Wade commented taking a bite out of his omelet.

"Why's that?" Zoe asked, swallowing the bite of hash brown in her mouth. She couldn't remember what she had said to Jackie to make her freak out over anything.

"The thing about marriage," he smirked. Zoe rolled her eyes. He personally had no problem with it because he himself wasn't ready for marriage either, that was a huge step to take and they weren't there. They had a lot of things that they needed to get through first.

"I swear she thinks we'll never get married. I only told her it wasn't going to happen now, it will one day Wade," she told him with a soft sigh. She hated how their mothers were always getting involved in their relationship. She loved them dearly, but it was times like this that she missed the freedom that she had in New York away from her family.

"Hey I know this," Wade told her, placing his hand on tops of hers. "I'm not in any rush for marriage, you may be waiting years before you get a proposal," he replied making a smile come to her face.

"Good," she replied, turning her hand over to hold his hand in hers. "When we're older, Wade I want it all with you just not now, because we're not ready, I'm not ready," she told him softly looking down.

"Hey," Wade whispered, moving around the table to be right next to his girlfriend. "Zoe, I don't need a piece of paper to tell me how much I love you, I just need to be with you," Wade told her, putting his arm around her, pulling her into him. Zoe rested her head against his chest. "I love you for you. Those scars make you human. No one is perfect and you are beautiful to me this way, okay?" Wade asked, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"You make it hard not to love you," Zoe responded, looking up at him. Wade smiled, capturing her lips with his.

"You should have known this," he whispered against her lips. Zoe smiled pressing her lips against his for another kiss.

It was the throat clearing that made them pull apart; Zoe with pink stained cheeks buried her head into Wade's chest as he wore a smug smirk on his face dealing with the waitress that ruined their little make out session.

With the bill paid they headed out, it was the sudden downpour that kept them in and from exploring the town they were stuck in until the car was ready. They were curled up on the bed watching some random movie on TV when Wade's phone started to ring. With one glance he was able to see that it was his brother. He showed Zoe who was calling as he muted the TV.

"How'd they take the news?" Wade asked answering his phone.

"They were pissed, I really thought that I was going to be married before lunch was over with," Jesse sighed into the phone. "But after a good 2 hour talk I've managed to calm them down and they're okay with it. They totally support me in this," he beamed.

"Of course they would, its mom and dad here, not some strangers," Wade laughed into the phone. "Just tell me that mom is more wrapped up in her soon to be grandkid and not the things that I do or Zoe for that matter?"

"She's baby crazy, you've got yourself some freedom until after the baby is born at least," Jesse chuckled. "You know mom is only like that because she wants the best for you, right? She's not trying to smoother you or Zoe. You're her youngest and she doesn't want you to screw your life up like I did mine," he sighed.

"You're not a screw up, Jesse," Wade told him. "You went about life the way you wanted it to be. You had fun, that's allowed and it doesn't make you a screw up. So what that you're going to be a single father, you still have plenty of things to be proud of, Jesse. I'm more of a screw up than you are," Wade told him.

"Good one," Jesse laughed. "You a screw up?" He questioned between laughs.

"Dude, I'm happy that you were able to tell them about being a father soon, but I am going to hang up on you now," Wade told him.

"Alright, later," Jesse said, ending the call.

Wade tossed his phone to the chair that was sitting next to the bed. Zoe looked at him, cupping his face in her hand. Wade met her brown eyes seeing the tenderness in them. "You are not a screw up, Wade. You are doing what it is you want to do. You're doing what it is you want to do," Zoe told him.

"I wanted to be rock star when I was 10 and when I was 15 I wanted to be a football player. I didn't decide that I wanted to work at a bar ever, Zo. It wasn't until after I was working at the Rammer Jammer that I had learned that I enjoy doing it."

"That's the thing about dreams Wade; you're allowed to change them. And besides you help coach the elementary kids in their games, you have a band, you're living your dream Wade and no one can take that away from you," Zoe told him.

"As long as you're next to me, I'm going to be alright," Wade told her. Zoe smiled leaning up to kiss him.

"It's cheesy but I'll take it," she smiled pulling away from him.

Wade rolled his eyes, pulling Zoe down on top of him. She laughed dodging his kiss. Wade growled, flipping them over attacking her neck. Zoe bit her lip, as Wade sucked and gently bit her neck. She ran her hands down his back slipping them under his shirt, raking her nails down his back, as she pushed her body closer to his.


	15. Chapter 15

"Did we really do that?" Zoe asked looking at her hand in awe. The panic she thought she would have for doing such a careless thing wasn't there. The opposite happened, she felt giddy and alive for the first time in years. Don't get her wrong the dread and the worry it was still there and she had days where she couldn't escape it but Wade had been amazing at helping her out of this fog she had been in. As hard as it was for her to fully move past what happened with Joel she knew that Wade loved her deeply even if this whole thing frustrated him. This wasn't a mistake, how they went about it was but the outcome was anything but.

"I believe we did," Wade stated, sitting next to her his head in his hands. "We love each other so what's the big deal?" He asked moving to look up at her.

"Because," she sighed turning to look at him. "I don't know," she told him honestly. "Joel had so many things in my life messed up and I know you're not like him you've proved that you're not and I was honestly scared to take this step Wade but now that I have, it feels right. There is no one else for me," she told him.

"So moving past everything you don't regret this?" Wade asked.

"I don't regret this. Do you?" She asked.

"To be linked to you for the rest of my life?" He asked. "How can I regret that?" He asked with a smirk.

"Because I'm not the same person I was," she told him softly.

"Hey now," he said, reaching out to hook a finger under her chin. "I'm not the same person either, Zo. We change it's called growing up, nothing to be ashamed of. I love you not what you were or what we had, Zoe. I love how you're able to overcome everything that's been put in your way. Most importantly you don't let anything hold you back. You've grown as a person because of the things that Joel put you through. He hurt you but Zoe you're stronger because you walked away. Can't you see that?" Wade asked, his thumbs softly stroking her cheeks.

"I love you too," she told him softly a smile gracing her lips.

"It's the charm," Wade smirked. Zoe rolled her eyes.

"You ruin everything," she laughed lightly.

Without a second thought Wade's lips were on hers. "That's why I have you to fix things for," he smirked against her lips. Zoe rolled her eyes, pressing her lips against his once more to keep him from saying anything else.

 _"It'll be fun," Wade commented._

 _"Wade, we just had this conversation early," Zoe protested._

 _"So?" He asked. "Do you love me?"_

 _"You know I do," Zoe responded gently squeezing the hand that was encased with hers._

 _"Do you trust me?" He asked._

 _"Of course I do," she replied looked at him, wondering where he was going with this._

 _"Do you see yourself with anybody else?" He asked, taking her free hand in his. "Because I don't see myself with anyone that isn't you," he told her. Zoe smiled._

 _"You're the only one Wade," she told him softly. "Let's do this," she told him, pulling him into the building._

The trip away had done them good. It was something that they needed. Over the course of the last few days she had been questioning herself if she had done the right thing in agreeing with Wade's crazy idea. As much as she wanted to think that it was wrong and they were rushing into this, it felt right. They weren't rushing into anything that they weren't ready for. Even with the distance and the time apart she knew him better than she knew herself at times and the same could be said for Wade. It was crazy enough that it just worked.

"How do you want to tell the town?" Zoe asked when they were 45 minutes away from Bluebell.

"As much as I want to scream it from the top of Nate's hardware store the second we pull into town, I think it's best if we keep it between us. We tell our families, but the rest of the town they can figure it out on their own," Wade said, gently squeezing her thigh where his hand had rested for the last hour of their trip home. Zoe moved her hand over his.

"I'd like that, both parts," she told him. "But I do want to see how long it will take for the rest of the town to notice the rings we now sport," she smiled, turning to look at him. "If they can't figure it out, that's on them, I will be changing the name that's on my office at the practice," she smiled.

"You don't have to do that," he told her. "I know how much you being a doctor means and I don't want you to feel pressured that you have to change your name because of this."

"Stop being stupid, Wade," Zoe told him, gripping his hand tighter when he tried to move it from her leg. "A name isn't going to change anything about me being a doctor. I want to change my name. Dr. Wilkes is my father," she told him.

"Okay," he replied, turning his hand over to link their hands together. Maybe he was being stupid about the whole thing. But he wanted her to know that she didn't have to do anything and that he wasn't going to make her do something that she didn't want to do. They were in this together but she had her own mind and she was more than capable of making her own choices along the way and he was going to support her in whatever it was she did.

With that being said the couple grew quiet as the music filled the car. Neither one of them spoke until they pulled up to the house. "How soon do you want to tell them?" Zoe asked, looking over at him. He shrugged killing the engine to the car. "I was thinking that we could invite them over for dinner and tell them tonight."

"Yeah okay," Wade told her. Zoe gave him a funny look. "What?"

"Are you okay?" She asked. "Ever since I made that comment you've been distant," she added.

"I'm fine, just tired," he sighed giving her a smile to assure her that he was okay.

"Why don't we just have them over for dinner tomorrow night," she told him. "Traveling all day long is a lot, let's just rest and find the best way to occupy our time tonight," she smirked, stepping from the car to stretch her stiff muscles.

"That's about the best idea I've heard all day," Wade smirked, stretching his arms over his head.

After an enjoyable evening together and a restful night, they were up early the next day to get everything ready. Together they cleaned up the house and got busy making dinner. They each called and invited over their respected parents. The closer it got to them arriving the more the nerves started to come out for both Wade and Zoe. Wade had taken to pacing around the backyard as Zoe busied herself with a pie that her aunt had taught her how to make when she was just a little girl.

In no time at all it seemed everyone was sitting around the table, Jesse included. All eyes were on Zoe and Wade.

"Why the sudden interest in having us over for dinner?" Jesse asked, helping himself to some food.

"We have an announcement of sorts," Wade said, looking at Zoe, she nodded her head ready to get this over with.

"You two are married," Earl stated with a smirk.

"How?" Wade asked, looking at his dad.

"We do have eyes," Harley spoke with a chuckle. "We do notice the little things," he rolled his eyes.

Wade watched his mom. "Ma?" He asked. She only shook her head and walked out of the house, leaving a stunned family behind. Wade made a move to get up but Earl shook his head. Jackie needed a moment, Wade understood that


	16. Chapter 16

"How could you do this?" Jackie asked glancing to her side to see her son sitting next to her. Wade knew that his mom wasn't going to take the news like his father would. Earl was okay with the news, happy to officially have Zoe as his daughter. But he wasn't picking out china patterns since the first day Wade had hugged Zoe like his mom.

"You and Candice were making this huge deal out of something that you really shouldn't have. You had our lives planned out the second you learned I was a boy and Zoe was a girl. Do you know how much pressure that puts on us?" Wade asked. "I'm sorry that I ruined it for you but we decided that getting married the way did was just us. It wasn't to upset you."

"I know that and you and Zoe it made sense. I'm sorry that I pushed so much but I could see what you two were refusing to see. All I ever wanted was for you to be happy."

"I know and I love that about you. But pushing marriage on us wasn't the right thing for anyone. It just made sense," he sighed having a hard time expressing his feelings on this. "We didn't think we'd ever get married with the amount of pressure everyone gave us. After a thought out conversation we decided that if we were to wed it'd be the way we did it. No one there to dictate how it should be done," he told his mom.

"I don't understand how both of you could jump right into a marriage when you both have expressed that you weren't ready for it, explain that to me, Wade," Jackie said. The idea of her youngest son married, thrilled her, it did, but she wasn't to keen on the way they had went about it. She would have loved to see her son exchange vows and put the ring on his wife to be's finger, she wanted to see the look on his face when he saw Zoe for the first time in her wedding dress.

" _Let's do what?" Zoe asked, stepping from the bathroom to look at her boyfriend who was laying on his elbows on the bed. She wasn't sure if she had heard him right._

" _Let's get married," he repeated. Yep she had heard him right._

" _Wade," she said taking a deep breath, moving a chair in the room closer to the bed where Wade was at. "What didn't you understand about us saying that we're not ready for marriage, that it's going to be years from now before we get to that point?" She asked, her eyes locking with his._

" _I've thought about it, Zoe. We'd already be engaged if things wouldn't have happened with New York, you gotta know this," he told her. Zoe nodded her head. She did know that. "Nothing needs to change between us because we get married. It's a paper saying we're husband and wife, it's us saying that we're going to be there for each other through everything, it's us doing what we've been doing."_

" _It's us connected forever, Wade," Zoe told him running a hand through her hair. "It's us dealing with whatever happens in the future. There is no walking away when things don't work out. It's us needing to fight to keep us together because when things get tough and they will get tough, we can't just give up. This will bond us forever because you know how I feel about a divorce and if we even did get a divorce we won't even be friends any longer, is that something that you can live with?" Zoe questioned wanting Wade to see this from every angle possible._

" _You're right, but I wouldn't deserve to have you in my life as a friend if I ruined things between us. I love you, Zoe. I want to spend eternity with you, can't you see that?" He pleaded with her. Zoe gave him a smile moving to sit on the bed next to him._

" _I do see it, Wade. I feel the same way about you. But we don't have to rush into anything. We have time."_

" _I know we do. And honestly I don't care if we get married tonight or in three years or twenty years from now, as long as you're the one next to me. Does it matter if it is now or years from now when we say I do?" Wade asked. Zoe shook her head. It didn't matter, she didn't think she was ready for it after everything she had been through, but with Wade by her side, she was ready for everything and she wasn't going to let her conscience keep her from being happy. She knew that Wade and Joel were two very different people, Wade would never hurt her, Wade is the one that has always made sure she was okay and taken care of. She needed to push her fear aside and do something that she wanted to do. And marrying Wade was something she wanted, whether it was now or years from now. It was the same way when she was little, Wade was her future and she couldn't let something like what she went through with Joel keep her from living her life. "You know that I'm not going to hurt you, Zo," he told her. "And if you don't know that and have second thoughts about it, then know that I would never ever treat you like you weren't an equal in this relationship, I won't ever lay a hand on you or talk down to you or demand things from you," he told her cupping her face._

" _I know and thank you for assuring me," she whispered against his lips. Hearing him confirm that he sees her like she should be treated, like she's his equal was music to her hears. "Let's get married," she told him. She knew that she was doing the right thing. That all she needed to be happy was Wade, that he'll be there to take care of her, just like she'll always be there to take care of him._

Inside the house, in the living room Zoe was having the same conversation with her parents. She had just gotten done explaining things to them. She did feel bad that she hadn't thought about what her parents would feel like when she took things away from them. She had hurt her dad and she hated when she hurt him. Her dad was her hero. Harley was pained that he wouldn't be able to walk his daughter down the aisle and give her away. Candice was upset with their actions, but after her daughter explained things she was okay with it because her daughter did what she wanted to do.

"It would be okay if you guys hosted a reception for us," Wade said walking into the living room with his parents. He looked over at Zoe to make sure she was okay with it and the smile she wore told him that he had just earned a few points in her book for making this whole situation better.

"We can even have this thing before hand where we can say our vows again and Dad can walk me in," Zoe suggested, feeling Wade sit next to her his lips pressed against her temple instantly.

"That'd be great," Wade agreed seeing how their parents lit up at the mere suggestion of it all.

"I call best man," Jesse smirked, speaking up for the first time since his brother and new sister dropped their bomb on them.

"So you can tell embarrassing stories, I don't think so," Wade laughed with a grunt, Zoe's elbow in his side. "I wouldn't have anyone else," he forced out, his lips wearing a smile.

"Damn..."

"Language Jesse Kinsella," Jackie scolded him.

"Dang," Jesse corrected himself. "She already has you whipped," he joked.

"Jesse you're never too old for me to ground," Jackie threatened, earning chuckles from Wade. "Just because you're married doesn't mean I can't or that I won't ground you," she warned Wade. He whined moving closer to Zoe.

"I won't be saving you honey," Zoe informed him, giving his leg a little pat.

"You're mean, I thought you were supposed to be on my side being my wife and all," he mumbled under his breath.

"I love you, ya big baby," Zoe giggled kissing his cheek.

Things weren't back to normal but things had been smoothed over and the pain they had caused their parents was on the fast track to being healed. Laughter was an excellent cure for the hurt they had caused.


	17. Chapter 17

"Did I ever say thank you for being so understanding with my Dad?" Zoe asked, sitting on the bed after her morning shower. Wade removed the arm he had tossed over his eyes to look at his wife. He had been called into work last night and he worked until closing and Zoe's alarm this morning had woken him up. As soon as his wife leaves for work he was going back to sleep.

"About a million times since last night, Zo," he smirked, reaching out for her, his hand falling to her hip. "You saw how devastated my Ma was. We cut them out of something major in our lives. I would feel the same way if our kid does that to us," he told her in deep thought.

"You think about us having kids?" She asked, playing with the blanket. The thought had crossed her mind more than once since they've been together. What they would look like. She did want a little boy that looked like his father and a little girl that she could dress up.

Wade's smirk grew, his thumb making circles on her hip. "Every now and again," he replied softly, giving her hip a gentle squeeze. A smile crossed Zoe's face as the words her husband just said sank in. She wasn't ready for kids and they were careful so there wouldn't be an accident but she wouldn't be totally upset if an accident did happen, she just preferred one not to happen until they were ready to have a kid. Zoe bent down to brush her lips against his quickly, but Wade had other ideas as he held her in place deepening the kiss.

"Morning," she whispered against his lips once they broke apart.

"Morning," he replied, giving her a small peck on the lips. "I'll meet you for lunch," he told her. Zoe nodded, kissing him one more before making her escape.

It was a good walk from her house to the practice, smiling at every person that she had passed. There wasn't much that could put her in a bad mood. The sun was out making today a beautiful day. She was married to the love of her life, they had smoothed everything out with the parents, and life couldn't get much better. She felt as if she was walking on her personal little cloud in the sky. Upon entering the practice seeing the place nearly plum full didn't phase her one bit. She went to her office first. After getting her things put in her office she headed back down the stairs and got to work. It was days like this that she looked forward to the most.

With Zoe gone Wade pulled the blanket up over his head to get a few more hours of sleep. After a half hour of trying and failing to fall back to sleep he finally tossed the covers aside and got ready for his day. He wore a smile the second he stepped outside with a guitar in hand listening to the birds chirping around him. Setting on the front steps he let his fingers lazily play a random tune.

"Hey man," Jesse said, coming to a stop in front of his brother, leaning on the railing. Wade nodded, looking down at his finger placement.

"What brings you by?" Wade asked, shaking his head and placing the guitar off to the side. Even though it was only his brother he didn't want to be rude and continue playing while his brother tried to talk to him about something. "Everything okay with Jaelynn and the baby?" He asked curiously.

"They're fine. Everything is right on track, that's not why I'm here," Jesse replied, crossing his arms over his chest. Wade looked at his brother waiting for him to continue on. And when he didn't Wade prompted him to keep talking. "You and Zoe really are married; it's not some kind of twisted joke to get them off your back about weddings and all that jazz?" He asked, moving his attention to his brother. He wasn't able to grill his brother on all of this last night with all the parents and Zoe present.

"It's not a joke," Wade said shaking his head. "She's my wife and Jesse it just made sense to do it our way. We had no pressure for it be a certain way. It was the right thing to do, even with the reactions we did have. I don't regret doing it, if that's what you're wondering. I love Zoe and I'm happy, happier than I've been in a long time," Wade told his brother.

"I see that. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't this joke, because that would have been like mean to do. I've been pulling for this for a long time; I just wasn't going to push. Zoe is the only one that has ever been able to handle you and keep you grounded and knows how to put you back into place when you need it," Jesse smirked taking a seat next to Wade. He gave Jesse a small glare. "Hey now, you do the same for Zoe," he laughed, turning Wade's glare into a smirk.

"With everything going on in my life, what's new with you?" Wade asked. He really had been so wrapped up in his own life that he didn't know anything going on with Jesse's life and it felt wrong because he had always been close to his brother over the years. Jesse truly had been his best friend when he felt like he had no one else.

"Actually I met someone," Jesse told him a smile coming to his face. Wade raised an eyebrow. "I know because I didn't think it would ever happen after…" he paused not wanting to go further into what he had left in his past in order for him to move on with his life. "But she's different and we just click much like you and Zoe do. I never thought that I would ever find that person again and there she was," Jesse chuckled thinking back to how she had just fallen into his lap one night and how she's been there ever since.

"I'm happy for ya," Wade told his brother with all the sincerity in his voice. "But does she know about the little fact that you're going to be a father?" He wasn't trying to ruin his brother's happiness; he just wanted to make sure that his brother had told his current girlfriend about that major fact. He figured this woman was his brother's girlfriend.

"Eden knows all about it. I made sure she knew that before things could get very far between us. I'm proud that I'm going to be a father, not so much on how it happened but I can't change that," Jesse told him.

"Wow, she must be something special," Wade told him. Jesse nodded.

"She really is," he agreed.

Wade sat there as Jesse filled him in on everything else. He was nearly done with his house. He had the nursery finished up to a certain extant; he was waiting to see if he would be having a son or a daughter before adding the final details to the room. They joked around and spent the morning as the brothers they had always been. Wade couldn't imagine a life where he didn't have Jesse around. Sure they fought but their fights never lasted very long. They were always laughing afterwards, each fight bringing them that much closer together. Wade was thankful that he had a brother that was his best friend growing up and that bond even stronger now. There wasn't anything that he wouldn't do for Jesse and Jesse had stressed more than once that he would do anything for Wade, even if he ended up in prison because they were family and family has your back no matter what.

After parting ways with Jesse, Wade headed to the practice with a lunch that he made at home, which had gotten a few comments from Jesse but Wade took them with stride, Jesse could poke fun all he wanted to, he wasn't going to stop doing things for his wife because Jesse was there to laugh at him. The practice was dead; he waved at Emmeline and headed up to Zoe's office. He pushed the door open to see his wife sitting at her desk with her eyes closed; he took a moment to admire her, his smile growing.

"Is this a bad time?" Wade asked with a soft chuckle moving further into the office shutting the door behind him.

"Mmm, nope perfect timing," Zoe smiled, opening her eyes to look at her husband. "I'm starving and whatever you have there smells divine," she said standing up to greet Wade with a kiss, a kiss in which they both got lost in.

After breaking free from the kiss, they sat on the floor leaning against the wall underneath the window that was in her office. Wade pulled the food out he had prepared. As they ate Wade filled Zoe in on Jesse's new girlfriend.

"Oh wow, I didn't think he would ever find someone to settle down with after he went through the whole ordeal in high school with her…" Zoe was in the process of saying when Wade cut her off.

"I know and he said as much. But he's tired of living in the past and he wants a bright future like us," Wade replied, picking her hand up and kissing her knuckles. "I'm not sure she's going to be the one he settles down with," Wade tacked on.

"I really hope he's not using her because he feels that he needs to have someone fill in the role of Mom for his baby," Zoe commented. Wade hadn't even thought of that. He knew Jesse and he was certain that his brother wouldn't do anything like that. "I think I'm going to talk to him," Zoe said. Wade only nodded. That might be the best thing because now he was starting to worry for his brother.

"You can after work tonight. He'll be over at his place. I've gotta work once I leave here," Wade informed her. Zoe nodded making the plans to do just that. But for now she was going to enjoy her lunch date with her husband.


	18. Chapter 18

That night after work Zoe headed over to Jesse's straight from the practice. On the walk to his house Zoe thought over the words she was going to be saying to him. She didn't want some innocent woman to get hurt because Jesse decided he needed to be a jerk all of a sudden. Getting to his house Zoe didn't even knock just walked right on in, the door was open in her defense, and he was family.

"Jesse, Wade was telling me that you've found yourself a new girlfriend. And I have a few concerns that I wanna talk to you about," she said from the entry way walking to the living room where she stopped dead in her tracks seeing Jaelynn and whom she could only assume was Jesse's new girlfriend. She had bright hazel eyes, a deep brunette color hair that looked to be silk with a light complexion. "Oh, you have company, I'll just talk to you later," she told him back peddling, trying hard to make her escape.

"It's fine. Zoe you know Jaelynn but this is my girlfriend Eden," Jesse said getting up from his spot on the couch next to his girlfriend walking over to Zoe. "Eden this is my sister Zoe," Jesse said pushing Zoe to a chair. To him saying sister-in-law was just plain weird, she had been his sister for a long time whether she was married to his brother or not.

"Hello," Zoe smiled sitting down. She looked over at him giving him a small glare, ready to kill him.

"Hello, it's nice to finally meet you. Jesse is always talking about his brother and you. Seems I know just about everything," Eden smiled. Zoe blushed looking down at her lap, wishing she could say just as much about her, but she didn't know anything, just her name.

"What was it you wanted to talk about? Concerns about what?" Jesse asked. Zoe shook her head. There was no way that she was going to bring up her concerns about his actions towards Eden with her sitting right there within hearing distance.

"It's really nothing," Zoe told him. All it took was one look and he knew that there was more to it than that. That whatever it was she wanted to talk to him about had to do with one if not both of the women currently in his living room.

"I'm actually happy that you came by, I have something for Wade and now I don't have to make a special trip to see him tonight," Jesse said getting up. "Come on Zo," he told her. Zoe smiled getting up. "Excuse us," Jesse said. Zoe shrugged following behind her now brother.

"What is it you have for Wade?" Zoe asked confused walking into his bedroom that had a few packing boxes sitting around.

"Nothing," Jesse replied calmly sitting on the bed. "You have something that you wanted to talk about and I could see that it has something to do with the two women in my living room. So spill it," Jesse told her. She gave him a look of shock. "Zo, don't look so surprised. I've known you just as long as Wade has, I know you just like you know me," he chuckled.

"True," she replied, sitting next to him on the bed. "Even before I was married to your brother you were always a brother to me, Jesse and I worry about you. I want you to be happy, I want you to have what I have with your brother, but I have to make sure that you're not trying to use some poor woman as a replacement for the mother your child should have in his or her life, because that's not fair to anyone of you," she told him lowly.

"I get where you're coming from Zo, I really do because that thought has crossed my mind on more than one occasion, but I promise you that is not the case with Eden, it's so easy to be myself with her, to lose myself in her. It's the first time in a long time that I felt such a connection with someone." Zoe watched him closely seeing that he was being truthful and that Eden meant something to him and she really did hope that she was the one that he could call his wife some day because it really looked like he cared that much about her.

"Just be careful Jesse," she told him.

"I will," he replied, pulling her in for a hug, Zoe was happy to return the hug.

They were questioned when they got back downstairs on where the thing for Wade was at since neither one of them had anything. Jesse shrugged saying they couldn't find it right now and it was nothing major and that it could wait until they came across it at a later date. Zoe gave out hugs telling Eden that she was happy to meet her and they would have to spend some time together to get to know each other without the guys around. She had also invited both Jesse and Eden over for dinner in a couple of days when Wade had the night off. They had happily accepted, with a good-bye to them Zoe headed out making a stop at the Rammer Jammer on her way home.

She sat in her normal spot at the bar, waiting for Wade. He showed up a minute later with a glass of wine for her and a small kiss. He leaned against the bar, his fingers holding onto hers, his eyes locking with hers.

"How'd it go?" Wade asked.

"Eden is a lovely woman," Zoe replied taking a small drink of her wine. "They are so cute together," she gushed. Wade chuckled shaking his head. "It's good, he really cares about her and Wade I really hope it works out for him, because he needs this."

"It will work out," he replied. "So she was there, huh?" Zoe nodded her head filling him in on the fact that Jaelynn was there as well. Wade was actually impressed that Jesse could handle that situation. Zoe then went on to tell him that they would be coming over in a few nights for a dinner. He was actually looking forward to that; he wanted to meet the woman that was able to finally sweep Jesse off his feet. "I'm actually impressed with this huge turn around that Jesse has done since finding out that he's going to be a father, I don't want to say that he didn't have it in him, I just never thought I would see it," Wade told her.

"Oh I know," Zoe replied, brightening up when Wanda placed a plate filled with a chicken sandwich and fries in front of her. "You do know me," she told him picking a fry up.

"No!" Wade mock gasped. Zoe giggled, tossing a fry at him. "I'm gonna kick you out of here," he joked, picking the fry up from the counter top and popping it into his mouth.

"You wouldn't do that," she told him. "You love me and because I can't really cook and you don't like to go to Fancies you would never kick your lovely wife out of the only other place in town to eat," she told him all too serious.

"Luckily for you you're right," he replied, walking around to kiss her temple, to get back to work.

Zoe smiled watching him as she ate her food. When he had nothing to do he would come back and talk with Zoe, steal a fry or two and a bite of her sandwich, refilling her glass, he didn't give her enough to get her drunk or even tipsy.


	19. Chapter 19

**Saturday updates are something of rarity these days, but this chapter was finished. Also there is only one more chapter left. So if there is any unanswered questions I have left anyone please do share them so I can clear those up for you. Enjoy!**

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Because Zoe didn't have a bachelorette party the girls had taken her out to pamper her the day of her reception party and since Wade wasn't given the luxury of having a bachelor party the guys planned a day of guy things for him. And since he was already married they stayed away from strippers and alcohol not wanting Zoe to be pissed at them for bringing Wade to her drunk off his ass.

Zoe was dressed in a white flowy dress with a pink ribbon around the waist that her mom had made her wear. Wade couldn't judge her on it because his parents were making him where a tux, using the excuse that they hadn't been given the privilege to witness their wedding. So they caved and wore what their parents wanted them to wear it was only going to be for a few hours. They had even found out that the whole day of the little reception that they weren't allowed to see each other or even talk to each other.

What felt like a life time but really it was just a blink of an eye, Zoe's arm was loop around her father's arm, smiles evident on both of their faces. Zoe couldn't help but feel like this was right, that she had missed this the first time around. And that is when it really hit her on what she had taken away from her father. She went to say she was sorry, but Harley waved it away telling her that it was okay because he was given the chance to do it now. Walking in on her dad's arm she couldn't help but feel how much of a wedding this whole thing felt, she smiled seeing Wade waiting for her.

The world around them fell away as they stared into each others eyes. The reverend cleared his throat earning a few soft laughs from those in attendance, which happened to be most of the town. Wade cleared his throat, taking Zoe's hand in his own, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Zoe, I can't express to you how much you mean to me. I can't find the words to tell you what is in my heart, what I feel for you. I can't do that because you've had my heart since you had the guts to give me a black eye on the playground, I deserved it because I was jerk to you, but the thing was I liked you back then, I didn't know how to express those feelings until your fist connected with my eye," he laughed. "The thing is we've been friends since we were little, we've been through so much together and apart and it was the unknown when you were gone, that empty feeling I felt when you weren't here that I hated. When you left you had taken my heart with you. I want you to have it, to take care of it forever, because I love you and I'm not going anywhere, I promise to do more than to stand by you through everything, and I will fight right next to you until our last breathes together. Me and you, Zo, we're one, have been for a while now. I want you to know that you can lean on me always," he told her with a gentle squeeze of her hand.

"Wade, you've been my best friend and my worst enemy since I was a baby. The thing is those two things have always been one and the same. I promise you that I'm not going anywhere, Wade, you are my life. I'll protect your heart if you keep my heart safe. Black eyes and mud pies they do have a little ring to it," she paused waiting for the quiet laughs to stop. "Uncertainty has only ever leaded me astray and this here with you that's where I belong Wade. Me and you that's it, I love you and I should have never been afraid to say those words to you. My heart beats for you," she said placing his hand over her heart. "Always, Wade. I'm going to be next to with whatever battles come our way, it's us together, we're no longer Wade or Zoe but we're Wade and Zoe. Expressing my love for you won't be possible in this lifetime," she finished up.

With the reverend taking over once more, the world around Wade and Zoe faded out as the world spun leaving them the only two there, pronouncing them husband and wife once more as they sealed it with a kiss filled with love and passion. They walked straight to the dance floor for their first dance. Pictures had been taken throughout the night, capturing every moment possible.

It was later in the night when they were joined by Jesse and Eden. It had been two weeks since they had dinner together and learned everything it was they needed to know about the pair. They had actually been friends for a couple of months and their friendship had easily turned into a relationship, granted they had only been dating for a handful of weeks, days shy of making it three months. There was just something special with surrounding their relationship. They all had thought that things between Eden and Jaelynn would be awkward at most but it seemed the two of them got along perfectly well which was something Jesse was grateful for. "We're really sorry to do this to you, but we have to go, Jaelynn is in labor with the baby," Jesse told them, fear and excitement wrote on his face.

"Go," Wade laughed shoving his brother out the door. "Let us know, okay?" Wade asked him. Jesse nodded, going to walk away. "And Jesse if you need anything," he was saying.

"I know, thanks," Jesse said hurrying out.

With the impending birth on their minds they had made the choice in ending the party sooner than planned so they could be at the hospital for Jesse. They had made the stop at home to change into normal clothes before they headed on their way.

Wade, Zoe, Earl and Jackie joined Eden in the waiting room. They had spent hours in the uncomfortable chairs waiting on any news from Jesse. Wade and Zoe were both passed out using each other as pillows, Eden using the wall as her pillow, Earl was softly snoring with his head tossed back and Jackie was awake to anxious to sleep. Jesse smiled walking into the waiting room to see his family there waiting for him.

"So?" Jackie asked softly not wanting to disturb her family.

"A little boy, 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 24.3 inches," he told his mom with a tear in his eye. He couldn't contain the excitement in his voice and woke the other 4 up. They had shot question after question at him and he was easily able to answer each question. "Liam Everett Kinsella," saying his sons name brought a grin to his face. Knowing that they couldn't wait any longer to see the little guy he showed them the way to the nursery window where his little guy was sleeping. They cooed and awed over him as Jesse's heart swelled at his little face.


	20. Chapter 20

**Turns out I lied. I've got a few more chapters to go before the final one. I do see the end of this story within my sights and I've started to write it, but in the mean time there's a few extra chapters to go before we get to that point. Enjoy.**

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"Zo, you need to calm down," Wade told her calmly walking back into the room with a hot cup of tea.

"Calm down!" Zoe yelled, wiping at the tears that were streaking down her face. Wade handed the cup over to his wife, sitting next to her on the bed, pulling her into his strong embrace. "It felt so real, Wade," she sobbed lightly into his chest.

"I know," he whispered, placing a gentle kiss on her head. "He's not here and he can't hurt you anymore, I promise."

"You can't promise me that," she told him apprehensively, shaking her head. Closing her eyes brought the images of her nightmare back. Taking a small sip of the tea, she placed the cup on the night stand, digging her head back into her husband's chest.

"No, I can't, but I can make sure that you're safe and that I won't let anyone hurt you ever again," he told her softly, feeling her start to relax in his arms. "Let's lay back down and try to get some sleep, you need it." He moved them keeping Zoe in his arms to lie back on the bed, pulling the blanket over them.

"I can't sleep," she whispered in the dark. If she went back to sleep that meant that she was going to be reliving the nightmare she had escaped. Joel was haunting her in her dreams.

"He can't hurt you, Zo. I'm right here," Wade assured her. It seemed the past week she had more nightmares about Joel than she's had in months. He had no idea what triggered them, he wanted to know what the trigger had been so he could fix it. He had thought that she was over the whole thing to an extant. They were happy together and she hadn't held back, but now when things were really good for them, the subject of Joel had to come up. She never shared what the dreams were about, just that Joel was there. He was lost on how he was suppose to help his wife that what little he was doing never felt like it was enough.

Wade laid there staring into the dark, holding his wife close to him as she slowly drifted back to sleep; he on the other hand was finding that sleep wasn't going to come as easily. He was just happy that she was able to go back to sleep so quickly this time around. He had reasoned with himself that it was easier to wake her when he was already awake and he'd lay there until he finally drifted back to sleep or until another nightmare ripped through her. On a good night she'd sleep peacefully, on an okay night it'd be one bad dream but on a bad night it was multiple and she'd been having more bad nights than good ones.

 _Zoe had just gotten off of work and she was headed to meet up with Wade for a quick dinner before he had to get to work. She was walking down the busy street, minding her own business when she was grabbed from behind, a hand going over her mouth. She fought against her kidnapper but to no avail. People continued on like there was nothing to be seen. Her eyes drooped feeling too heavy to stay open._

 _She blinked rapidly her eyes adjusting to the darkness that surrounded her. She couldn't see anything in the dark or hear a pin drop. She tried to yell for help but she was gagged. She tried to move but she was tied to a chair. She struggled making the rope tighten on her wrists and legs. She slumped back against the chair, her cheeks housing the tears that ran over her bottom eye lid._

 _The lights coming on blinded her and she blinked getting her eyes adjusted to the bright light shinning above her. She started to panic, pulling her on her bindings trying to get free seeing a smirking Joel standing there. With every step closer he took, Zoe shook her head. She closed her eyes, when he stopped in front of her. She stiffened feeling his cold hands on her._

 _"That's much better isn't it?" He asked her once he had the gag off of her. She refused to say anything. He roughly kissed her. She bit his lip and he pulled a way with a smirk on his face._

 _Zoe took a deep breath now that he moved away, "HELP! WADE!" She yelled, making Joel laugh._

 _"No one can hear you dear," he told her. "Why don't you say hello to our guest," he suggested, moving to the side, Zoe's eyes following his every movement._

 _"No, Wade," she started to sob, seeing Wade tied to a chair in the corner of the room, covered in blood. The second Joel lifted his head up; she could see the deep cut along his throat._

 _"I did it for us, Zoe," Joel informed her, letting his head drop back down._

"Wade!" Zoe screamed in her sleep and it was that scream that had Wade wide awake once more after he was able to drift off.

"Hey, Zo," Wade told her, with a gentle shake. "Zoe baby, wake up. I'm right here, you're safe," he cooed into her ear softly, "I'm here, you're okay." His thumb lightly stroking her cheek.

"Wade?" She sobbed, flinging her arms around him. "I thought you were dead," she told him, burying her head into the crook of his neck.

Instead of replying he kissed her shoulder, running his fingers along her spine to calm her down. They sat like that in the middle of their bed over a half hour. "I'm fine," he whispered into the quietness of their bedroom. "He didn't hurt me and he didn't hurt you, baby," he assured her. Zoe nodded, clinging to him tighter. "Why don't I get a bath started for you," he suggested. Taking a glance at the clock to see that it was 4:45 in the morning there was no use in trying to go back to sleep.

"I'd like that," she told him weakly, making no move to let him go. He was letting her set the pace; like she did every time they woke up this early from one of her nightmares. He had learned long ago that he couldn't rush her on this. They needed to have a long talk on a way to fix this, because he hated seeing her in so much pain and so tired that she couldn't function by the time mid day rolled around. There had to be a way to get these nightmares to go away.

15 minutes later with Zoe finally in the bath, Wade got busy on making them something to eat for breakfast. Putting the food on the table he went upstairs to check on his wife. She was sitting on the bed fully dressed; her hair was still wet and messy from drying it with the towel. Wade sat next to her.

"I made breakfast," he told her, taking her hand in his own, bringing her hand up to place a kiss to the back of her hand.

"It smells good," she told him with a faint smile. "I thought you were dead, I thought he killed you. That's a first Wade. Normally he's just hurting me in my dreams, making you watch and this time he killed you," Zoe told him softly.

"He's not here and he can't hurt you or me, Zo," he assured her. "But I think it'd be best if you went in and talked to a professional about this, Zoe," he told her, feeling her tense up.

"NO!" She stated firmly, wanting to pull her hand from his but he held on.

"I hate watching you go through this and they're getting worse," he told her.

"They'll go away, they always go away," she told him.

"What if they don't?" He asked.

"They will," she told him getting up. Wade let her hand go watching her leave the bedroom. He sighed running his hands over his face. He'd let it go for now, but he would be bringing it up again. She needed more help than he was able to give her.


	21. Chapter 21

"Please make it stop," Wade begged, handing his baby nephew back over to his brother.

"You act like you've never dealt with a crying baby before," Jesse chuckled softly, gently rocking his one month old baby boy. "What's with you?" Jesse asked daring to sit down, a smile creeping onto his face when little Liam stayed quiet his little eyes searching.

"When have I ever had to deal with a crying baby?" Wade asked with a little amusement in his voice. Jesse shrugged his shoulders. "It's just this thing with Zoe," he sighed, getting up to pace around the room. Jesse remained silent getting slightly dizzy from watching his brother pace he turned his attention to the sleeping baby in his arms. "You remember all those rumors about her time in New York?" Wade asked then stopping to look at his brother. Jesse nodded, he knew exactly which ones were true and which ones were false. "Things were good and now something happened to trigger her nightmares and they're getting worse and I don't know what to do to help her out," he sighed, running a hand through his head.

"I don't think there's really much you can do for her other than just be there for her. She needs to know that you're not going to leave her and that she can trust you Wade," Jesse told him.

"I know, but that's not enough," he replied. "I want it to stop, she's been making a big deal about seeing a professional," he confessed.

"Of course you do," Jesse told him. "You want her to be happy again. Give her a few days on this." He was trying to help Wade out, but he didn't know what it was he could tell him so he would chill out on this whole thing. He did know one thing; he was going to need to have a little conversation with Zoe.

"I don't think I can watch her struggle for another few days," he replied, plopping down in a chair. "How's fatherhood?" Wade asked, changing the topic at hand.

Jesse launched into how much he loved having his little guy around. That he may have been freaking out the closer the due date came and that he didn't think he was ready to have such a big role to play, but having Liam in his arms, put those qualms to bed and he was happier than he could ever remember being. Sleep wasn't an easy thing to come by when Liam was up every few hours but he wouldn't change it for anything else in the world. Eden was a gem when it came it Liam, she gave Jesse the space he needed to build a bond with his son, but she was there when Jesse needed that extra hand and Jesse really loved how easily and natural Eden fit into his life with Liam.

An hour later with Liam in his little bouncer on the floor between his father and uncle saw them playing video games when Zoe walked into the house. "Is this how you two really watch this little guy?" Zoe asked, putting her things down.

"He likes it," Wade pointed out pausing the game to look up at his wife. "How was work?" He asked concerned.

"It was fine," she replied, bending down to kiss him. "Nothing too exciting," she tacked on picking Liam up. "Speaking of work, shouldn't you be there?" She asked.

"Crap," he muttered under his breath seeing what time it was. Giving Zoe one more kiss he rushed out the door not wanting to be too much later than he already was.

"What?" Zoe asked, bouncing Liam in her arms, catching the weird look that Jesse was giving her.

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Jesse asked. She looked at him like she didn't have a clue on what he was talking about. "How you told me everything that happened while you were away."

"No, I didn't tell him," she sighed. "I wanted to tell him, but now I don't think it'll do any good, Jesse. It'll hurt his feelings that I went to you instead of him."

"Except you didn't come to me, I was just lucky enough to come see you when you needed to go to the hospital. I made you tell me everything that was going on," he quipped back. "He can't be mad about that, because you didn't even want to tell me."

"But I broke down and told you everything, Jesse. Things I can't tell him, because I'm ashamed that he'll think of me differently," she sighed.

"He loves you, Zoe. He won't see you as anything else but the person you are."

"You don't know that," she pointed out, sitting down on the couch. "I've known him just as long as you have."

"You're right about that Zoe, but I know my brother and nothing in this world can change his mind on how he feels about you or what he thinks of you. To him you're the strongest, bravest person he knows." Zoe looked down at his words, letting Liam wrap his little fingers around one of hers. "He's worried out of his mind about you; can't you I don't know listen to him about going in and talking this out with someone that can help you?" He asked.

"I want to, I do," she told him.

"But you're scared?" He questioned. Zoe nodded her head. "He'll go with you to hold your hand and keep you safe if you let him."

"I know he will," Zoe told him with a soft sigh.

"Just think about it, okay?" He asked her. Zoe nodded her head. "You'll be fine for a few hours?" He asked, getting up. "Everything you need is in his bag and if you need anything else, you know where I live and you have a key so help yourself," he told her.

"I got this, Jesse. It's not the first time I've watched him. We're good," she told him. Jesse took his son and kissed his little forehead telling him that daddy loves him and that he'll be back shortly.

With Jesse gone Liam started to cry. Zoe checked to see what it was that he needed and she sat down to feed him his bottle of milk. With him now sucking on his bottle Zoe took the time to really think about things. She couldn't be mad at Jesse and she felt bad that she had confessed in him and not Wade, she always told herself that Wade hated her and she didn't want to bring him back into her mess of things. And Jesse had been there at the right time. It was easier to confide in Jesse at the time, he wouldn't go back and run his mouth, Wade wouldn't tell a soul either except she really didn't want Wade to know. Wade would have came running to save her and she had felt like she didn't deserve to be saved after everything that she had put Wade through, maybe now she should sit down and tell Wade every last detail, but she was still scared to do that. Maybe Wade and Jesse were right. With Liam fed and burped she rocked him to sleep. With him down for a few hours, Zoe made the call.

Wade was sitting outside on his break when he spotted Zoe walking up pushing the stroller that housed Liam. He smiled thinking to a day in the future when she would be pushing their child in a stroller coming to see him. "What?" Zoe questioned, sitting next to him. He shook the thoughts away.

"Just thinking," he responded. "What brings you by?" He asked, peaking into the stroller, rubbing his little nephew's belly.

"We're out for a walk enjoying the fresh air, stopped by to get a bite to eat and to see this incredible guy I call my husband and inform him that I've made an appointment tomorrow afternoon and that it would be really nice if he could come along," Zoe told him.

"I think that incredible husband of yours can do just that," he replied. "Want your usual?" He asked. Zoe nodded her head. Wade got up, pulling Zoe up with him. He pulled her in for a hug. "You know I wouldn't make you go alone, Zo. You need me and I'm not going to let you down," he whispered in her ear. She smiled kissing his cheek.

Things were going to be scary, but in the end they were going to be okay, not only did she believe that she had faith in it.


	22. Chapter 22

_"What are you doing here Jesse?" Zoe asked, opening her door to see him standing there._

" _Friends, does that word meaning nothing to you anymore?" Jesse asked stepping into Zoe's apartment._

 _"Are we friends Jesse? Or did we only act like friends when Wade was around. The only time we ever interacted is when Wade was there. Now why are you here?" Zoe asked once more crossing her arms over her chest._

 _"To see you," he told her. He had more to say and he was trying to find the best way to say it when her voice got his attention._

 _"If you're here on Wade's behalf you can go," she told him, cutting off whatever else Jesse had to say. "If Wade wants to fix things with me he needs to be the one on my doorstep. He needs to man up and come tell me everything that he has to say to my face…"_

 _"That's not why I'm here," Jesse told her, cutting her rant off. He had heard enough from Wade. He wasn't coming to fix things for Wade, hell Wade didn't even know that he was coming here to see Zoe and it wasn't any of Wade's concern either._

 _"Then why Jesse?" Zoe asked sighing softly, her arms falling to her side._

 _"Because despite what you think, I saw as us friends, Zoe and as your friend, one of the many you have seemed to forget about, I wanted to come check on you because I care about you," he told her, moving further into her place and sitting on the couch. "What's going on with you Zoe? This isn't like you, none of this is you!" He exclaimed jumping back up and motioning around her place with his arms wide open._

 _"Nothing is going on with me Jesse, this is who I am," she told him firmly. Jesse shook his head, he wasn't going to believe that for a second._

 _"Why don't we try this again, Zoe. Stop playing around and pretending this is you. We both know that this person you are pretending to be is a total lie. Did you forget that you can't lie to the one person that has known you as long as…" his voice trailed off._

 _"You do but I've changed, Jesse, this is who I'm now," Zoe told him softly, wanting all memories of Wade to vanish from her mind._

 _"I don't believe that for a second," he told her moving to the door. "I'm going to be in town for a few days, my number is still the same, do you still have it?" He checked, reaching for the door handle. Zoe nodded letting him know that in fact she still had his phone number just like she had all her friends numbers from Bluebell. "Okay," he told her heading out the door, he nearly ran smack dab into some nerdy guy coming to visit Zoe. The guy gave him this creepy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He paused outside the door after it was closed._

 _"Who was that, Zoe?" He heard being yelled. He wanted to bust the door down but that might be taking it a step to far. "I asked you who that was, Zoe, now answer me! Are you cheating on me?" At those words and the guys demanding tone, Jesse walked away before he ended up in a New York prison for beating on the guy._

 _They only problem he had made it a block and half before he was turning around to go back to check on Zoe. He didn't like the guy from the first glance and to hear him talking to Zoe in the manner that he was, it wasn't right and he wasn't going to leave her to fend for herself, not when he could do something about it. He rushed into the building getting there just as someone was leaving. He rushed up the stairs, thankful that he worked out everyday because he would hate to be out of breath right now. Getting to her door he had pushed his way inside seeing the door was slightly open._

 _"Zoe," he said in a panic seeing her on the floor holding her stomach. "Come on," he said, helping her up._

 _"Jesse, I'm going to be okay," she tried to tell him; he just wasn't listening when he saw the shape she was in. Blood dried and wet clung to her face and hair, her right eye was swollen and he could faintly see a few cuts on her arms. There was no way he was going to leave her like this._

 _"No you're not, I'm taking you in to see a doctor and don't tell me that you're a doctor either, I'm not buying that you can handle this, you need help, Zoe," he told her. He would pick her up and carry her out if it came down to that._

 _"Okay," she told him, leaning against Jesse wincing with every step she took._

 _"Ya know he misses you," Jesse told her after they were set up in a hospital room. There was nothing either one could say on the trip to the hospital or as they waited, they had remained quiet waiting until everything was good once more before either one said anything and that was the first thing that came to his mind that he felt the need to express._

 _"I miss him too, but the last time I was there, he seemed to be doing pretty good," Zoe retorted._

 _"He like you is a very good liar," Jesse chuckled. "Something huge is going on here, Zo. Why won't you tell me what that is?" He questioned turning serious._

 _"I want to tell someone, I do," she sighed. "But how do I know that you won't go back and tell Wade everything I tell you?" She questioned him. Jesse shook his head._

 _"Because I haven't changed and you know that I won't tell a single soul anything you tell me. You know that you can trust me with anything," he responded with._

 _Zoe nodded her head and launched into her story on everything that she had been through because of Joel. Let him in on how big of a monster Joel truly was. How she couldn't get out no matter how hard she tired. Told him just how much she wanted to come back home, how the cold city was nothing compared to warmth and love of Bluebell, that she felt guilty for leaving Wade the way she had. She left nothing out, being completely honest with him._

 _Jesse in return moved closer to her bed held her hand and promised her that everything that she wanted was going to happen. He would personally see to it._

Wade nodded his head, looking between his wife and his brother. On one hand he was happy that Jesse was there to help her out, but on the other hand he was pissed that Jesse had went to New York to see her and never told him about it and then proceeded to keep everything that happened while he was there to himself. He was tore on how he should feel about it. Acting mad wouldn't do any good but he couldn't act happy about it either.

"Why not tell me sooner?" Wade asked, looking down at the coffee mug in his hands.

Jesse seeing this as his moment to leave the married couple alone, went upstairs to check on his son. He felt bad and the urge to tell Wade about everything Zoe had gone through was there, but he couldn't betray Zoe's trust in that way. Wade would understand and it seemed like he had understood.

"I didn't want you to think of as some weak person, I'm still me, Wade and talking about that time in my life is hard and it was so easy to let myself forget while I was with you. It was like old times just in the now. I wanted the feeling to last because if it didn't it was going to affect our friendship, you see how it bothers me now. I didn't want you to think of me as anything different than how you remembered me," she told him, hoping that she had made sense to him.

"The thing is it doesn't hurt me to know that you confided in Jesse and never told me about it, I'm happy that my brother was there to help you out when you didn't think you had anyone else. I'm hurt because you didn't think I would be here to help you that you thought I was going to view you differently, that's what hurts," Wade told her, turning to take her hands in his. "No matter what you've been through you're always going to be this strong beautiful woman that I love, that I have loved since we kids. Shit happens in our lifetime and you were able to make it through that, you Zoe Kinsella are stronger because you were able to take back your life," Wade told her.

"I see that now," she told him, softly kissing him.

Zoe knew that keeping this from Wade was wrong and that he had a right to know. She didn't want there to be any secrets between them and she felt bad keeping this from him, so she told him with the help of Jesse. She felt free for finally telling him this. It was something huge that needed to be out there for Wade to know. She didn't want it to come at a later date and for him to be mad at her and Jesse. She was already expecting him to be mad at her for keeping this from him for so long; she was relieved to see that he was keeping calm about this whole thing.


	23. Chapter 23

_**I just want to say that I'm not a fan of this chapter, I tried so hard to redo the whole therapy session and I've wanted to cut it right out but that didn't feel right either and the one that's in this chapter is the best version I had come up with. I'm sorry if it's not the best.**_

 _ **Please let me know if there is any unsolved questions any of you have. I'm trying to wrap this story up within the next few chapters. So please let me know in either a review or a PM.**_

* * *

"Wade, I know I said that I wanted to do this with you, but I think this first time, it'd be best if I did it myself," Zoe told him as they waited.

"Okay," he told her a bit disappointed. He'd do whatever it was she wanted to do. He was here to support her even if that meant that he wouldn't be in the room with her. If he stayed back meant that she felt more at ease than he would do that, it was about Zoe and not how he really felt about this. He really wanted to be in that room to know that she was going to be okay. He wanted to soothe her, and he could still do that once she finished.

"I'm sorry," Zoe told him, feeling bad seeing how upset he was becoming about this whole ordeal. "Talking to a stranger is one thing, but for you to hear things in a place like this doesn't feel right," she tried to explain her reasoning to him. The only problem it wasn't coming out like it was in her head.

"I don't like or even agree with it, but I have to respect what it is you want. I know how hard it is to let those you love in with something like this and I may not have always taken things easy when it comes to things with this subject matter but at the very least I'm trying. But at the end of the day I want what's best for you," he told her.

"I know things are hard when it comes to this and for that I'm sorry…"

"You have no reason to be sorry, Zoe," Wade said cutting her off. "I'll be here," he assured her.

"That's the thing though," she sighed, leaning back in her chair. Wade looked at her, confusion with just a hint of anger showing on his face.

"What are you trying to imply?" He hissed lowly.

"Nothing," she told him quickly wanting to reign in his anger. "I just have to wonder how long you'll be there if I don't let you in the rest of the way," she said quietly. It was one of the things that swirled around in her head, waiting for him to decide that he had enough and leave her because he couldn't deal with this. She knew it was wrong to think that especially after all the times he's told her otherwise, but being doctor had showed her that not everything in life is a guarantee.

"I don't know how you could even think that I'd just walk away," Wade told her shaking his head. "I've lost you once and I'm not going to do that again, the first time was hell, I need you Zoe, just like you need me," he told her, taking her hands in his. "I'm could never do any of that."

"I know you wouldn't, I can feel it but that worry is still there," she told him.

"You'll see that worry you have is silly to have," Wade told her, leaning forward to kiss her temple. "There is no place I would rather be than right here with you," he whispered, resting his head against hers, closing his eyes.

Zoe nodded leaning into him the best she could with the arms of the chairs in the way, waiting for her name to be called for her appointment. She wasn't sure what she was going to endure and that made her worry on what was going to happen in there.

"It's very clear to see that you really loved Joel, thought he would be the one you would marry and have kids with, you entertained that thought once or twice before things turned, did you not?" Dr. Mira asked.

"Maybe once," Zoe admitted, talking about Joel was hard. All the memories that she buried deep inside had to come out. "I did love him and then he turned into this monster and I wanted to be far away from him," Zoe added on.

"You wanted to feel at home, peace within yourself, the feeling you get with that husband of yours?" Zoe looked down. "There's nothing wrong with that, we all look for that, Zoe. You thought you had that with Joel, when really what you felt has always been with Wade, you needed to experience a little more before you truly knew that."

"So you're saying that I needed Joel to treat me like crap?" Zoe asked, ready to get up and walk out of the room.

"No, I'm not saying that at all. No one knew that Joel was going to turn out to be the monster he is, I'm saying that you needed to see what your heart already knew. No one deserves the treatment that came from Joel. I'm simply saying that no matter who you would've dated it would've ended in the same fashion. They wouldn't have been enough for you. Do you understand that?"

Zoe looked at her, thinking her words over carefully. "I guess so. My heart belonged to Wade and I was only fooling myself when it came to the others," Zoe said.

"Exactly," Dr. Mira agreed. "You feel that he'll get tired of you at some point and leave you and that terrifies you. The more terrified you become the more your subconscious is trying to show you what it is you have and that isn't going to change. You had seen a whole life played out with Joel, but you never once saw that life with Wade and now that you have it, you want more but at the same time you're scared." Zoe nodded her head, listening intently to what was being said. "You're scared because you thought you knew Joel and he turned out to be someone you couldn't trust, who abused you and bullied you and you're letting yourself start to believe that any minute Wade will do the same because you know him." Was she really doing that? She didn't think she was but it made sense to her.

"Seeing Liam made me think of having kids with Wade and I want that I do, but at the same time it scares me. What if I'm not a good mother? So many things could go wrong and Wade can easily blame me because it would be my job to keep the baby safe," she confessed. "And I guess it makes me wonder if that will be all it takes to make him do the same things that Joel had done," she tacked on softly.

"And there is the underlying problem. It's not so much about Joel and the pain he had caused for you, but this harsh reality you're letting yourself live in. You're not pregnant, Zoe. You can never know if you'll be a bad parent but from what I've gathered from talking to you is that you love those around you and you'll be a wonderful mother and as far as Wade goes, I do believe that he wouldn't blame you for anything. You can't compare what Joel put you through to what you'll think Wade will do. That's not fair to Wade or to you, Zoe. They are both two very different people who show their love in two very different ways. Let yourself trust him, you wouldn't have married him if you didn't trust him, give him that trust back." She trusted Wade with her life. He had been there to help her without really knowing what was wrong. She didn't think she had taken that trust away from him. "See him for who he is now not what you think he'll do or who he was a year ago. People change and sometimes it's for the best, Zoe."

For the past 15 minutes Wade had wanted to say something, question if his wife was okay, he could clearly see that she wasn't okay. Ever since coming out of her therapy session she's had this far away look on her face. It really scared him, he didn't know what was going on in that head of hers and he wanted to know, he was concerned for his wife. He wanted to protect her and he was doing a horrible job at doing so.

"I know you're worried and want to ask questions," Zoe said, scaring Wade from his thoughts. "It's personal and I want to share things with you, to let you in, but I can't do that. This is really hard for me," she explained, making her husband that much more frustrated with this whole situation.

"I get that this whole thing is hard on you, that it's taking its toll. You know that you can always confide in me. I will never think less of you for what _he_ put you through. That wouldn't be fair to you. I want you to tell me what's going on but I get that you're not ready to do so," he sighed, pulling her hand into his lap.

"I know I can and I know you won't, Wade. It's about letting you in under this layer of pain and hurt and I don't know how to let you into that," she stated.

"Hey now, you've let me in, just don't push me out now that I'm there," Wade told her, bringing her hand up to his mouth to kiss her knuckles.

"I'm trying," she told him.

They let the silence fill the car once more. Both wanting to say more but neither one could get the words out. She was finding it hard to tell him that she was simply scared of having kids with him. It was still too early in their marriage for kids and she didn't feel like she was ready to be a mother, but she couldn't stop the thoughts from being there and making her terrified. As for Wade, he didn't feel right in asking what she had discussed inside the office. If she wanted him to know then she'd tell him when she was ready no matter how much he let it irritate him.

"Why don't you go up and rest," Wade suggested. "I'll be up in a bit, okay?"

"Yeah," she told him, planting a firm kiss to his lips. "I love you."

"I love you too, Zo," he replied, kissing her forehead.

"There is no place I would rather be than right here with you," she repeated his words from early, walking upstairs, leaving a smiling Wade behind.

Looking around the living room he decided that things could wait, he was going upstairs to show his wife just how much that one little statement was true.


	24. Chapter 24

"That's just…" He trailed off, the word crazy was on the tip of his tongue, he couldn't call his wife crazy for thinking like that; he knew she wasn't crazy that she had built these theories up in her head. Hearing the reasons on why the nightmares had returned was just stupid and he couldn't think straight. He had assured her that he wasn't going anywhere or that he would harm her ever. He understand an extent that these thoughts of all men doing what Joel had done to her would be there but he had thought that those thoughts would mostly be gone by now.

"Saying it out loud it's silly but that's how I feel," she told him, playing with the blanket on the bed. Wade had woken her up from her slumber when she had woken him by calling out for him to save her. She had cried into his chest for 10 minutes then drying her eyes she finally told Wade what was bothering her and what had been talked about. "I can get it if you're mad at me," she told him quickly.

"I may not fully understand it Zoe, but I guess it makes sense. He had put you through so much; it's hard to just get rid of those thoughts after he had firmly planted them in your head. But I will prove that you have no reason to be scared for. I have no reason to be at mad at you about this, you can't help it," he assured her.

"I know you will," she told him. "I do trust you," she was saying when Wade's lips were on hers.

"You don't have to explain anything, Zo. Joel has taken a lot from you and you spent time getting over that on your own, pushing things to the back of your mind hoping that would work but it didn't. I know that you trust me; you wouldn't have dated me let alone married me if you didn't trust me on some level. We're going to get over these nightmares and the fears you've built up, together because it's not just you in this anymore, not only do I want to be here for you, but I need to be here for you." He was done letting her push him away, her doing that so wasn't doing either one of them any good. She would learn that he was there to support her and show her that he meant every word he told her from the bottom of his heart.

"Okay," she smiled at him. It was easy to push him away but with him refusing to go anywhere it showed her that she was wrong in thinking that he may be like Joel and together they could move far enough away from it where it wouldn't effect her any longer and maybe one day conquer it.

"Have I told you how proud I am of you?" Wade asked then, pulling Zoe so she was straddling his lap.

"Once or twice," she giggled, moving her mouth to his ear. "Have I showed you just how proud of you I am?" She asked, lightly nibbling on his ear lobe.

"I don't think so," he husked out, his hands slipping under her shirt. Hearing the cries come from down the hall had Wade sighing. "We didn't even get started," he whined. Laughing Zoe kissed his forehead and climbed off his lap. "Remind me on why we agreed to have Liam for the night?"

"That's babies for ya," she commented. "Because Jesse was spending quality time with Eden and you told him we'd take Liam for the night, so it's your fault things got broken up," she smirked walking out of the room to see what it was Liam needed.

"He's cute and you look all sorts of sexy holding him, but babe." Zoe put a hand over his mouth to get him to stop talking.

"Having a baby of our own isn't in the works for us right now, Wade. We're nowhere near ready," she finished for him. She wasn't ready to be a mother, she was still dealing with things trying to put them back in the past where they belonged and until she could do that, she wouldn't be ready to have any amount of kids. "I love Liam, I do but we get to give him back."

Wade kissed the top of her head, carefully taking a sleepy Liam from her arms. "Why don't you go get some rest and I'll get my buddy here back to sleep," he suggested.

Zoe smiled getting up kissing Liam's forehead wishing him a goodnight's sleep. Before leaving the room she kissed Wade. She was tired, the nightmare and the talk with Wade had taken a lot out of her. The world around her vanished as her head hit the pillow and her eyes drifted shut.

Wade gently rocked Liam getting him to slowly drift the rest of the way to sleep. Having Liam in his arms calmed him down when his mind started to drift off. He wasn't upset that Zoe didn't tell him about her concerns before he got that she was scared to voice those concerns, he has thoughts not ones that were ever that serious that he's been afraid to voice to Zoe so he knows how it was, he was upset with himself for letting her have a nightmare and talk to him about things after it happened. He could have tried a little harder to get her to open up to him about the on goings in her mind without pushing her into it. He could've helped in keeping the nightmare away. He couldn't change what it was he did or didn't do today but tomorrow would be a new day that he was able to start over and he had to learn from what he had done wrong or even right in the past to grow as a person. He was positive that things from here on out were going to be better for them.

Kissing Liam's head he put his sleeping baby nephew back into his crib and returned to his room all while making sure Liam didn't wake up. He had plans to finish what him and Zoe were in the process of starting, but seeing his wife sleeping with a smile on her face he didn't have the heart to wake her up, instead he climbed into bed, pulling her into his chest to hold her.

"You're here early," Zoe commented with a yawn seeing Jesse on the floor sitting in front of the bouncer that housed his son. Jesse wasn't able to hold back his laughter like Wade was able to do.

"Zo, it's after 2 in the afternoon," Wade informed her. He jumped up from the spot he was in seeing the pure terror on her face.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" She asked in a panic, going to walk from the room. Wade was there to stop her, his hands on her hips.

"Deep breath," he told her, getting her to do breathe. "After the last few days and you barely getting any sleep for weeks now, I figure it was best you get your rest because you need it, Zoe. I did what was right for you and you can be mad at me for it all if you want that won't make me change what I did or even regret it," he informed her.

"What about my job, Wade!"

"I called and informed your dad that you wouldn't be coming in today. He was very understanding about everything," Wade told her. She sighed, letting her head fall against his chest. He was doing this for her and if she would've showed up at work her dad and even Dr. Breeland would've sent her home.

"I did need the sleep," she sighed agreeing with him. "And missing one day of work isn't going to hurt anyone," she thought out loud. "Can you please make me some waffles while I go shower?" She asked then, pulling back slightly.

"But it's the afternoon," Jesse tossed out. He wasn't trying to listen to what they were saying it was just hard to ignore them when he was right there.

"Yes but I just woke up," Zoe countered with.

"They'll be waiting for you," Wade told her kissing her nose, cutting the two of them off from the little bickering match he was sure would take place if he didn't step in. Zoe smiled at Wade, turning to walk upstairs making sure to stick her tongue out at Jesse as she went. "What are you doing?" Wade asked turning to face his brother to see him packing things up.

"I'm sure you and Zoe have a day planned out and I should be going, I have things to do," Jesse told him. Wade rolled his eyes.

"Other than staying in and watching movies until dinner time we have nothing planned and you're always more than welcomed to join us," Wade informed his brother. "Liam doesn't change that, I'm starting to prefer him over you," Wade joked, walking to the kitchen. "He doesn't talk back."

"Not yet anyway," Jesse told him with a small laugh. "Ya know if you wanted me to stay you could've just said so and not used my son for the excuse," Jesse joked walking into the kitchen with Liam in his arms.

It would be like old times when the three of them hung out and watched movies on rainy days and the days they just didn't have anything better to do, the only difference now would be that there would be a one month old baby joining them. And that one difference wasn't a bad one.


	25. Chapter 25

**Almost 1 year later**

Wade was sitting on the floor little Liam sitting in front of them as they played with toys. Zoe stood back watching them a smile on her face. The last year saw them with struggles of their own but they managed and each time it only made things between them concrete. Unaware of her actions she rested a hand on her flat stomach.

"How far along are you?" Jesse asked coming to stand by her. Taking her attention away from her husband and nephew she looked over at Jesse.

"Should I even ask how you know that when I haven't told a soul?" She asked with a laugh.

"You probably don't want to know the answer to that question," he joked.

"I believe you," she laughed. "What makes you think I'm going to tell you when I haven't even mustered up the courage to tell my husband yet?" She asked sending Wade a smile as he watched the two of them.

"He'll be happy scratch that he'll be so flipping excited if that's what you're worried about."

"I'm not worried about telling him," Zoe responded. "I want to tell him but I don't," she sighed glancing at him. "It's been nice to have this to myself," she elaborated. "So please Jesse don't say a word," she begged.

"The last time we've had a secret Zo has been ages, I'm not telling a soul," he promised. Not to mention that secret was way worse than the secret he'd be keeping this time.

"This little guy needs changed," Wade announced making both of them jump. "What's goin' on?" He asked handing his nephew over, sensing something was going on between his brother and wife.

"No idea what you are talkin' about," Jesse muttered walking off.

"We both know that was a lie," he replied, taking her hand. "Please don't leave me out of this," he pleaded with her. If it had to do with Joel he wanted to know. It had been a few months since anything pertaining Joel had came up. Cupping his face she pressed her lips against his firmly.

Leaving the birthday party unnoticed Zoe lead Wade to a quiet place outside of Jesse's home. She turned to face him, pulling her bottom lip in her mouth. Wade sat there his thumb stroking her knuckles. He wasn't going to say anything not until she did that had been the plan but that didn't happen.

"Is this about you being pregnant?" He heard himself ask her. Burrowing her brow and tilting her head to the side she gave him a weird look.

"How did you know?" She quietly asked him.

"I was digging in the bathroom and came upon the positive test. I wasn't snooping or anything and I was just waiting for ya to tell me. Why didn't you tell me?" He asked feeling a little hurt by the actions of his wife.

"I wanted to but I wanted to have this little secret to myself for a few days. It's selfish but I can't change that and I don't want to and for that I'm sorry."

"Zo, you don't have nothin' to be sorry about, of course I would have liked to be told the second you found out but I guess in a way I can try to understand where you are coming from," he told her moving his free hand to rest on her stomach. "How far along are we?" He asked a grin overtaking his face.

"I was actually waiting to tell you that you're going to be a daddy when we showed up at the hospital tomorrow for the first appointment," she told him shyly.

"You my love are just adorable," he chucked softly, capturing her lips with his.

"Everything is okay right?" Jackie asked when they entered the house once more. They assured Jackie that everything was good. They wanted to share their news but they were going to wait, today was about little Liam. They wanted to make sure they weren't jumping to a conclusion about being pregnant and they wanted to be further along. They had talked about having kids and everything that went along with it and they were ready whenever it happened for them, they weren't trying to get pregnant.

Later that night Wade was laying in bed his arms folded behind his head, a smile permanently on his face since being told there was a good chance he could be a father.

"What?" Zoe asked stepping from the bathroom washing the day's worth of make up from her face.

"I'm happy," was his simple reply. Smiling she joined him in the bed, her head resting against his bare chest.

"So am I," she replied. "I know I haven't been the easiest person over the last year with my struggles with Joel. And you were right talking about it with someone helped." Wade titled her head up.

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Zo. Pushing your fears to the back of your mind wasn't doing any of us any good. You're my wife and I want the best for you so if you hating me for a few hours to make you feel better were worth it," he confirmed. "Joel will always be there and I'll be here to help you, deal?"

"One of the best deals I've heard all day," she smiled kissing him.

A week later found Zoe and Wade a little anxious. They were going to tell their parents at their little weekly dinner. They had been excited once it was confirmed and letting the news sink in. Keeping it between them was the logical thing to do for them. They didn't want to tell their friends until after they had told their parents the news.

"We don't have to tell them," Wade suggested, slipping his arm around her waist as they walked.

"They would be too excited when we hand a baby over to be mad at us," she mused.

"Exactly," he agreed with a chuckle.

"But we can't do that," Zoe relented. "As freaked out as I am about the whole thing, I want to tell them and celebrate this moment with them," she told her husband.

It was easy for Wade to assure her that they would do just that. He couldn't imagine keeping this from his parents for that long, he had a problem keeping quiet when he found the positive pregnancy test before he talked to Zoe about it he had went and talked to his brother about it. He didn't know who else to talk to about the whole thing and he really was waiting for Zoe to come to him and tell him about it. Sooner or later as Zoe's stomach grew to accommodate their little one people would talk, it wasn't like they could go in to hiding for the next 6 and a half months. Not that he wanted to do. He loved spending time with Liam and he couldn't fathom just how much joy and love he could possible feel when it came to his own baby. He wasn't ashamed of Zoe being pregnant and he didn't want people to think that. If he could scream it from atop of Nate's hardware store he would do just that, but they wanted to tell their parents first, the wrath they could put out wasn't worth it.

"The last time you two looked that apprehensive was when you had to tell us you ran away and gotten married. What could it be this time?" Jesse asked with a smirk after they had finished eating. He was going to have fun with this while he could. Wade glared at his brother.

"I was thinking the very same thing," Candice said. "What is it you two have to tell us?"

"You're pregnant," Jackie proclaimed with a massive grin on her face.

"How far a long are you?" Harley asked seconds after Jackie ousted them. Zoe looked between her mother in law and her father. "Sweetie, I've been around enough pregnant women in my life that I know the signs by now, I am a doctor after all."

"And honey, I can see how you're glowing, I am a mother myself," Jackie said.

"I can see it now," Candice said after studying her daughter.

"2 and a half months," Zoe told them with a smile answering her father's question.

This was the start of their family and whether it was a boy or a girl they were going to love their baby the same. The sex of the baby didn't matter as long as their little one was born healthy.

* * *

 **And this chapter ends this story. A massive thank you to everyone that has read, reviewed, favorited and followed this story. A special thank you goes out to everyone that has reviewed every chapter and questioned me on a lot of different things. I hope you guys liked the way this one ended. Also I'm sorry for any errors you might find within this chapter, I'm not feeling all that well, but I wanted to get this up for you guys.**

 **Happy Holidays!**


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